


Friends on Each Side

by severalluminarybears



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Fluff, Gen, I also guess, M/M, Someone help, i don’t know what i’ve got into, i guess, plot heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-05-28 16:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19397917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/severalluminarybears/pseuds/severalluminarybears
Summary: A story of nine boys from either inside and outside the castle walls with different stories and lives finding each other.Stuff happens and at the end they’ll all have to make choices to stay together and not let go of the people they’ve come to love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!  
> Definitely my first fic here, I Am: Terrified. Basically I don’t know what I’m doing, it’s summer, I’m bored, I don’t have friends but I do have homework to procrastinate so here goes nothing I guess.  
> Please, leave constructive criticism in the comments: English isn’t my first language and I don’t have any type of beta reader or editor.  
> So yeah. Hope you’re excited because I’m not!!!!  
> Ending my rant now, thanks for tuning in <3<3<3<3<3<3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan is already stressed, at Changbin’s expenses. Woojin is more than stressed, at Jeongin’s expenses. Minho and Seungmin are savages, at Hyunjin and Jisung’s expenses. Felix is pouty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooooooo!  
> So I am crying in the club right now because I can’t do this. Please enjoy the chapter I re read at least five times only today.  
> I’ve already written down the next two chapters and I’m waiting to post them because I don’t know.  
> Please enjoy and leave feedback <<<<<<333333

When Seungmin woke up, it was already blindingly bright outside. It actually was probably the reason he woke up in the first place. Struggling to even open his eyes, he regretted it when light hit him unfiltered. After managing to put himself together, he tried to ground himself into reality: who was him, where was him and what he had to do today. When he did realize all of the above his eyes shoot open and he sat up so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash. Tonight was going to be the night. He needed to get up now.

For the looks of it, it had to be almost noon by now, and he couldn’t fathom how mad Chan must have been that he hadn’t even bothered to wake up yet. That man was gonna wear himself out by constantly trying to make things right where they weren’t, but Seungmin couldn’t help think that by this point he really should have given up on him, especially when mostly everyone seemed to have had by now. On the other hand, he was very grateful he hadn’t.

Since it was the King’s birthday, that night the palace would have hosted a humongous celebration. Seungmin wouldn’t even have cared (he hated dancing, and would have had to be mostly invisible anyway), if not for the fact that, needing the banquet a consistent amount of food, extra people were always called from the city to provide their service, and that probably meant that he was gonna be here soon.

At breakfast he managed to be let alone for the short amount of time of two seconds, before Jisung barged in. “Morning sunshine! The sun shines brightly and your brothers and I have been up for almost three hours now, so it was time for sleeping beauty to finally grace us with his presence!”

Seungmin scoffed. “Shut up squirrel, if it wasn’t for Joomi you would still be sleeping now. Honestly, you wouldn’t be able to function without the woman”.

Jisung didn’t address the comment, instead focusing on Seungmin’s face before speaking up again, his voice slightly hesitant. “Well anyway, you need to help preparation for tonight yourself, if not Chan says he will not let you in”.

Seungmin almost laughs then and there. “And what does His Majesty wants? Did he forget who is he referring to?” He arched an eyebrow.

Jisung rolled his eyes in a way that Seungmin would have deemed very inappropriate for a person his caliber, but apparently not if that person was Han Jisung. “Would you stop it with this narrative already? I’m sure they’ll have you do something. You’re still the King’s son”. 

Seungmin had to restrain himself from laughing out loud at that. “Mmph, sure. Tell the man that. Well I have stuff to do, places to go, so tell my dear brothers that I’ll be perfectly helpful in the kitchens testing the dishes for tonight”. As soon as he stood up, Jisung looked like he was about to protest, but Seungmin slipped away, effectively cutting him off.

Seungmin didn’t like being rude, especially to his friends, but he also didn’t find any reason for his brothers to always try so hard to include him in their princely stuff. It wasn’t like he wanted to be a prince, he very much enjoyed his life as it was.

Even being technically part of the royal family, Seungmin was the illegitimate son of the king, and very clearly so. It must have been of outmost evidence if who was supposed to be your brother was born and announced only a week before your own birth. Not to say that the Queen had died giving birth to his brother. For that reasons, Seungmin always had to hide, or be hidden, from the limelight, at the very least not to taint the Queen’s memory.

To this days, though, Seungmin couldn’t help but ask himself why his father had chosen to take him in in the first place, only to ignore his existence completely and dethroning him. Even so, he was totally fine with the idea of never being part of the world of aristocracy: what he had was enough and more. He brought up his head, almost slamming the kitchens doors as he entered.

The cooks all looked up at him in surprise, before returning to their work when they saw it was just the weird bastard of the king. But Seungmin came here to carry on a mission. “Chef, did the supplementary cooks arrive already?”

The man looked at him for a second before answering, “No, sir, but they’ll be here any minute now. In the meantime, if you desire, we’re trying the fish dish recipe for tonight. Would you care to tell us your opinion?”.

Seungmin didn’t see the point in refusing, seeing he was there and waiting anyway, so he nodded. The chef smiled at him as the boy set on the counter, swinging his feet. He liked the chef, he had always been nice to him and made him try the things he was preparing for every royal meal, especially the ones he wasn’t supposed to attend.

To be honest, the life of a bastard was not half as bad as people would make it out to be. While his brothers (well, step-brothers, but they would have whooped his ass knowing that was the way he was addressing them) would have had to study and attend their princely duty, Seungmin had been left on his own to roam the castle as much as he pleaded from a very young age.

Soon, through his shy and cute persona, he pretty much had gained the affection of most of the palace staff, with a few exceptions. As the King had ordered from the day he had brought an infant Seungmin to the palace, he was to be revered, but the lack of a difference in ranks, giving he was a bastard, had made it possible for him to actually entertain relationships with all his staff members. And that was how he had met Jeongin.

In reality, Seungmin had got to know the boy only a few months before, and today was going to be his third time seeing him. Jeongin didn’t work permanently at the castle, but sometimes he took on work from when the castle needed more cooks. It was on one of this occasions that Seungmin met him.

He didn’t really know much about his personal life, but he had come to know that the boy was very much talkative, very disrespectful if he wanted to (not that Seungmin cared) and very cute, in an incredibly charming way. He smiled constantly, which was misleading when he would talk almost exclusively in witty remarks. 

Seungmin, leading the boring life he did, always loved to take up on challenges. In his childhood it would resort in quite a few broken bones and too much staff members having to cover up for him, but in the last two months it had become to be close with Jeongin.

The two clicked instantly, unlike anyone Seungmin had ever befriended, and, after the first time they met, Seungmin found himself escaping from the castle on another occasion to meet with the boy, which wasn’t something he was supposed to do, but hadn’t cared since, at age twelve, he had decided that he was old enough to exit the castle completely on his own. He couldn’t forget how Chan had almost chocked when he naively mentioned it to him at breakfast the day after.

“Sir Seungmin, here’s a bite for you to try. By the way, it was announced to me that the auxiliary staff is now entering through the back door-, Wait, Seungmin!” The chef didn’t have time to finish his sentence before Seungmin jumped off the counter, taking the piece of burning hot fish in his mouth and running away, although in pain, leaving the man to shout to not run in his kitchen, please sir!.

The burning piece of food in his mouth didn’t stop Seungmin from taking a shortcut to the back doors of the castle, getting scolded by every passing staff member, who got subsequently ignored.

He saw the people piling in before he got to his designed location, and between the chaos he also found a very specific tuft of raven black hair. And that was how he slammed into the owner of such hair, only for the boy to immediately shout in distress, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

—————————————————-

“Woojin, I can’t breathe” Jeongin said almost in a bored tone, since it had been now the seventh time the older had almost killed him in one of his bear hugs.

“Oh my goodness, sweetie, I’m so sorry!” Woojin let go immediately and apologized for the umpteenth time in only an hour. Jeongin tried the hardest not to roll his eyes.

“God Woojin, stop smothering the baby, your making him pouty” Minho said the last part with a mocking tone while pinching the boys cheek, which gained a giggle from Hyunjin.

Jeongin sighed. With all people in the world, how comes he had to end up with the most unnerving three friends ever?

“I would be less pouty if you stopped that, and I’m talking to you too Woojin! I’ll be away barely half a day, stop fretting over me!” Jeongin knew his words didn’t have any effect when Minho smiled mischievously, probably amused by the cute outburst.

For Jeongin’s “goodbye” (for real, he was gonna be away one-fucking-day), the four friends were all seated at they’re most used hang out place: the Kims’ inn, were Woojin worked for his parents and the first and most long-lived job Jeongin had ever landed.

Of course, it wasn’t just a hang out place to them: here the three kids had found they’re way at the lowest of they’re life to find caring parents and a very loving older brother, who had took all three of them under his wing and, even if they wouldn’t show him that enough, saved them from a much darker future.

So, in reality, Jeongin very much loved his friends, he just didn’t love when they would get so patronizing. He was almost sixteen, for heaven’s sake!

Woojin sighed, “I know, sorry, Innie. It’s just that I worry about you” he said, the crease in his forehead a proof of such statement.

“Oh, cut the bullshit, Woojin. You really plan on not telling them?” Asked Minho and both the younger kids exchanged a questioning look. Hyunjin spoke first, “Tell us what?”

Woojin was now throwing daggers through his eyes to a very unbothered Minho who, with a wicked smirk, spilled the supposed secret with no hesitation. “You see, our hummingbird here was too shy to say that he was selected to perform tonight at the palace”.

“Minho!” Was all the oldest managed before the two youngest friends submerged him with questions: when?, how?, why?,...

Woojin sighed again, more in annoyance than frustration this time. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but yeah, apparently my mother knows someone from the palace, and a performer that was supposed to perform fell sick, so my mother suggested me for a couple of songs. So tonight, apparently, I’m going to perform for the King’s birthday” he was very pale by the time he finished the sentence.

Minho piped in, “It wasn’t a surprise, you just wanted to be able to get out of it until the last moment. If it was a surprise you would have told Hyunjin who wasn’t going to be there anyway!” Minho accused.

Woojin answered, “Yes it was! And I didn’t tell Hyunjin because I knew he couldn’t keep a secret for the death of him”. Hyunjin gasped dramatically, but got cut off by Woojin’s unamused glare.

Minho set back, hands behind his head and feet on the table (for which he had been scolded by the Kims’ hundreds of times), “Sure, keep telling yourself that”.

It was Hyunjin to speak up again. “By the way, why would you even consider backing out? This is such a great opportunity and you deserve it!” he mused, and Jeongin couldn’t agree more.

Apart from being a devoted child, a caring brother and a hard-working kid, Woojin had been graced with a beautiful voice, that he mostly got to show on some nights at the tavern, when Minho or Hyunjin were so kind to cover for him as waiters.

Those nights were mostly fully packed, both men and women finding the soothing and steady tone of his voice to be almost healing, and leaving very generous tips to the kid, who obviously didn’t take a penny for himself.

As for Woojin, he loved singing and music in general, but, having learned everything on his own, he often lacked in confidence, not accepting praises and refusing to take in other gigs outside of the inn. He told everyone it was more of a passion he wanted to keep for himself.

That didn’t sat well with any of the people who were close to him, and Jeongin thanked god that his mother had decided to take it upon herself to break the guy out of his shell. Honestly, Jeongin was surprised Woojin was even considering it, but maybe he had failed to realize just how much the older actually wanted to finally perform in front of a different audience.

Woojin scratched the back of his neck. “Guess I’m just...nervous? I mean, it’s the King we’re talking about, you now, the King!” He emphasized.

Minho rolled his eyes. “For my limited knowledge we have only one, idiot, and ‘nervous’ must be the understatement of the century. I thought you were actually gonna pass out when your mother told you” Minho was actually amused seeing Woojin glaring at him.

Jeongin cut in, taking the oldest hands in his own “Woojin, this is amazing, though! We’re gonna attend the banquet together, I’ll show you around the castle and- have I told you about Seungmin? He’s a friend of mine, you’re gonna love him...” The younger was ecstatic at the idea to show this new part of his life, so interesting and mesmerizing, to one of his best friend.

It was then Hyunjin’s turn to intervene in a rather unpleasant way. He shot up and basically sat on the youngest, in the act also cutting the link between the other two. “Wait, you’re telling me you’re both gonna go and have fun at the feast while I’m stuck here with boring Minho the whole night?” He said in a characteristically dramatic tone while he rubbed his cheek on Jeongin’s one, the younger looking all levels of distressed.

Minho scoffed, “Don’t worry about that, princess, tonight you hopefully won’t get to see me at all. I’ve got things to do, places to be.”

Woojin arched an eyebrow, but Hyunjin reacted faster, now launching himself onto the older and sitting on his lap while circling his neck with his arms. “Oh no! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I take that back! You’re not boring at all, please don’t leave me alone!”

Minho looked mildly annoyed, then shoved the younger off, smirking when he hit the ground with a groan. “Sorry, pretty boy, it’s not you it’s me”. Hyunjin side eyed him while trying to nurture his bum.

Then Jeongin heard himself being called after from outside, the boy taking the cue to leave. “Well people, it’s been a pleasure. I’ll be back soon. And I’ll see you tonight Woojin!” he winked, before running out of the inn. He didn’t miss the others last admonishments to be careful, even if he wished he did.

——————————-

“Prince Chan, please, I’m begging you, slow the horse down. Your father will have my head if the Crown Prince dies because he breaks his neck while out with me.” Changbin swore he was gonna get white hair from stress very soon if Chan decided to continue doing such reckless moves at such a high speed. Of course Chan didn’t even acknowledge him.

“Oh come on Changbin, do you seriously have so little faith in me that you think I would actually kill myself on such an easy course? I’ve been pacing this same paths since I was twelve.” Chan was smiling brightly, in that way that made him look almost radiant. Changbin shook his head in defeat.

“You can know something like the back of your hand, but that won’t change the laws of physics. You shouldn’t have launched yourself into that bend like that, you could have been thrown out of your saddle.”

Now it was Chan’s turn to roll his eyes. “Sure, like I haven’t seen you doing the same thing countless times”.

“It’s possible but, my Prince, I’m not the future King of this realm. I’m a stable boy”.

“And a squire and future knight, and my horse-riding instructor, and my friend, so you don’t get away with saying that your life is less valuable than mine” he retorted. Chan stood straight on his horse, looking at him with eyes firm but benevolent. Changbin smiled in return.

It was clear to him from a very young age that Prince Chan was born to be King, and not just literally. The man had an aura around him, that made everyone feel like they should revere him, but didn’t fail to be one of the most caring, sympathetic and generous people to walk on earth. Apart from that he was smart, passionate and charming in a way that seamed almost impossible for him to be a real person.

It was, though, clear to Changbin that the man was very much human: having known him for a long time, Changbin had seen a lot of his ups and downs, maybe not as much as Jisung, Felix or Seungmin, but enough for him to know that he didn’t take the responsibility of being crown prince very lightly, which was good for anyone except for himself. It was a compound effort to, sometimes, make sure he wasn’t wearing himself too thin, but for now they had managed.

“Not to say,” Chan suddenly continued, “that if something were to happen to you, there would be someone else who would have my head. Someone smaller, and of which I’m much more fond.” Chan grinned when he saw Changbin blush.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Your Highness” was what he managed out. Chan’s smug face grew, but he didn’t push.

“Sure you don’t, Changbin. Well, anyway, are you planning on coming tonight? I’m sure no one will mind you’re presence” Chan suddenly changed topic, making Changbin a little suspicious, but he didn’t mind it at all.

“Honestly, I’m not fond of celebrations of this caliber, my Prince, but if you’ll ask me to, I’ll come” he answered simply.

“And if I didn’t ask you to come?”.

“Well I’ve gathered that you want me to do so, so I guess I’ll attend to it anyway, even if you don’t ask me to” Changbin said smugly, earning a shove from said gracious prince.

“Gee, Changbin, you can be insufferable sometimes” he said with no bite in his words, Changbin giggling at the act.

After a second of silence, Chan spoke again, a little more softly. “For real, though, come. I know you’re not a fan, but I personally think that nothing is more close to magic than nights like this. You may nout love to do this kind of stuff, but the castle tonight will be more alive than ever, and anything can happen when there’s so much life in just one place. So be there, and be ready to be surprised”.

The wonder in Chan’s eyes was something that Changbin didn’t remember seeing often. He gulped, feeling like he didn’t want to wake the other from his awe. “Ok. I’ll come” he said as submissively as possible.

But the spell had been already broken, because Chan snapped his head towards him only to say, “Great, see you there then. I really need to go and help finish the preparation. Hopefully by now Seungmin has woken up, that little-” he cut himself short, then shot him one last goodbye, only to pick up a pace that was definitely inappropriate for him, leaving Changbin still stunned and questioning all the life choices that led him to this moment.

—————————-

Jisung was already too tired for this. He had woken up way too soon after having practiced sparing with Joonki for hours the day before, subsequently missing dinner and passing out from exhaustion without having a bath. He woke up to Joomi basically shoving him off the bed, smelly, hungry and not fully restored.

After having been deemed presentable, he had searched for the princes only to be asked by a very disconcerted Chan to for the love of god, go get Seungmin. After finding said boy and beeing told off rather rudely (not that he cared, Seungmin had a strange way to show affection), even beeing himself just the messenger, he sat off to find the princes again and rely the message. He was starting to feel much like a homing pigeon.

“Felix, here you are, finally. Listen I talked to the charming person that is your younger brother when he just woke up and he- Felix? Are you listening to me?” Jisung was under the opposite impression when he noticed the other boy not moving. He got closer only to find something out.

“You’re sulking” he said in a flat, unamused voice.

“Am not” said the younger boy (Jisung, you’re literally one day older than me-), eyebrows knitted together and pouting lips.

Jisung moved to see were the other’s eyes were pinned to outside the window, only to see a scene that he really should have expected. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He really was too tired for this.

“Felix, why are you obsessively spying on your brother and Changbin?”.

Felix’s head snapped towards him. “I’m not watching them ‘obsessively’, it’s just-” he hesitated, biting his lower lip “I don’t get why I have to miss my riding class because of the feast, but Chan can randomly get on a horse and go on a ride whenever he wants” he sulked.

Jisung shook his head. “Felix, if we had you on a horse before tonight there’s a one out of two possibility you will not be able to attend” Jisung mused.

Felix froze at that, then sagged, having acquired a more sheepish position. “I’m not that bad” he tried weakly.

Jisung patted his shoulder. “Yes, yes you are” he said in a patronizing tone that Felix didn’t appreciate.

The problem was that Felix, to his dismay, was painfully incapable of riding a horse, for quite a few reasons.

The first being that the boy had only just started his classes. From what Jisung had heard, his birth hadn’t been a pretty affair: the Queen died, and Felix himself almost didn’t survive, having been born prematurely. So, for the longest time, Felix had been quite a fragile child, rendering him incapable to learn at a young age things like sparing and riding a horse, instead being constricted to bed when he was too ill to even go outside.

Even as a young kid, Chan was destroyed at the idea of leaving his younger brother on his own sometimes. It was around that time that they started being close to Seungmin. The kid, being a bastard, not only didn’t undertake their same activities, but was mostly ostracized from basically all of the social gatherings, leaving the three friends to believe they weren’t supposed to engage in any kind of relationship with him.

To be honest, Chan was mostly aware of the situation, but didn’t know how to feel about it: his mother had died and his brother was sick, and this kid that was his father’s son, but not his brother, was roaming freely through the palace at his will.

Whatever idea he might have developed about the kid, though, was thrown out the window when one day, returning from a sparing class, he entered his brother’s room, only to find Seungmin animatedly talking about the last fairytale he had read. What made him completely fall in love with the kid was the honest and big smile Felix was addressing him with. Since then, the kid had become part of the group.

On rare occasions, Felix, still young and sick, would sneak out of his bedroom (with his younger brother’s help) and come watch the other two practice. It was clear from the gleam in his eyes that he was deeply fascinated, which was why, as soon as it was deemed safe, he requested to learn riding.

The second reason, though, was a much more, you could say, complicated one. Jisung could understand that it was going to be difficult to learn the basics of riding when you couldn’t stop concentrating on your teacher’s biceps.

This second reason hadn’t been immediately obvious to them, but it became more and more so to both Chan and Jisung after having seen the sheer amount of blushing and side-eyeing that every riding class Felix had attended so far would consist of.

It also hit them only after knowing so that a lot of the times the kid snuck out to watch their practice wasn’t just for a fascination with the sport. It surprised the both of them, but it also made them extremely giddy about the whole affair.

They both knew Changbin pretty well by now, having the three of them shared a fair amount of rides together, that resulted in Chan adopting him as a friend, so much so that they trusted him to be a very good person and a perfect candidate for they’re little Felix (Jisung, for fuck sake-).

But what was amusing at first, surely became insufferable when they realized that none of the two was gonna make a move anytime soon, which wasn’t completely unjustified, seeing where and what they were. But Jisung couldn’t help but pray that, by some miracle, one of the two would just suck it up and do something about it already.

“You do remember you were begging your brother just yesterday to convince Changbin to come to the feast, right?”

Felix looked at him in surprise, just to trace his eyes back to the scene unfolding in front of him. “You think that...”

Jisung didn’t need to hear the whole sentence. “Yep, he’s probably asking him right now.”

Felix sagged, realizing just how stupid he must have looked. “Please, don’t tell Chan” he said flatly, knowing it wasn’t going to work.

Jisung sounded almost offended, “Felix, who do you take me to be? Of course I’m gonna tell Chan!” and as soon as he said that, he shot up and run away, hearing the sound of being followed by a very small angry redhead, which didn’t make much more than make him laugh hysterically.

——————————-

Hyunjin shifted his weight to lean onto the door frame. He looked Minho intensely before even talking. “You really wanna do this”.

Minho looked up, scared of having been caught, before realizing who it was that had spoken the words. He smiled crookedly. “Hyunjin, you shouldn’t sneak up on people like this, you scared me”.

Hyunjin arched an eyebrow. “You really shouldn’t patronize me seeing what you plan on doing”. Minho’s smile dropped.

“Why are you even asking if you know the answer?” Minho returned to shuffling through his things, evading the other’s eyes.

Hyunjin shifted to have his back on the frame now. He tried to sound nonchalant. “I kind of hoped I could have talked you out of this”.

Minho scoffed. “You never were good with words” he said in a weak attempt at redirecting the attention.

Hyunjin looked at him again, more intensely now. “Why, Minho, though? Why are you doing this?”

Minho shook his head. “You know it can’t go on like this, and I have no other choice”.

“Of course you have! They gave you a choice!” Hyunjin said through gritted teeth, signaling at the people that were supposed to be at the other end of the hallway.

Minho shook his head in defeat. “You know damn well I can’t ask them for more” he said, himself through gritted teeth.

Hyunjin sighed to show his frustration. If only Minho would stop being so damn proud and would ask for the help he needed, especially to the people who more than anything would have wanted for him to be happy.

They were still at the tavern, at the apartments in the back were Woojin and Minho shared a room from the day the latter had been found agonizing in the pouring rain at their front door.

Minho had been left in an orphanage from birth as far as he knew. He had lived there for years, while going through abuse from both other kids and adults on a daily basis. Unsurprisingly, when he escaped at the young age of thirteen nobody cared to look for him.

He had told them that barely a month had passed, during which he managed to survive the streets, before the Kims had found him and taken him in. Things had been rough at the beginning, being Minho not used to any sort of affection, but soon he had naturally founded a bond with such kind people.

From then on, they had basically treated him like a second son, and Woojin was to him the big brother he never thought he needed. Minho would always say that words would have never been enough to show his gratitude to them. Which confused Hyunjin all the more when he found out about his little “side-business”.

Hyunjin spoke up again, a last attempt at deceiving him. “Is this how you want to repay them? After all that they’ve done for you? Can you imagine how they would feel if they found out about this?”

A shudder visibly shook Minho from head to toe, and a look of horror painted itself on his face. “They won’t know. They can’t. Please,” his eyes moved pleadingly to Hyunjin, “don’t tell them!”

Hyunjin sighed and sat down, on the bed next to the older. “Of course I won’t, it’s not my business to tell. But if you think they’ll never find out, you’re a fool. You know damn well Woojin is smarter than that”.

“I just need enough money to get my own place, and then I’ll start from there. I just...really need this. I don’t want to keep being a dead weight” Minho sounded so broken Hyunjin couldn’t help putting an arm around his shoulders in a side hug, so that Minho could gently rest his head on his shoulder.

“Ok, well, at least promise me you won’t get caught. I doubt the King would be merciful, especially if you were to ruin his birthday party” Hyunjin tried to relieve the tension.

Minho smirked weakly. “Don’t worry, Hyunjin. I don’t plan to do so”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> So how was it? Hopefully not too terrible.  
> Thank you so much for reading xoxoxoxoxo


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens before and during the night pt.1. Things don’t go as planned for basically anybody, but hey, that’s just life!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It’s late at night, but since I didn’t know what to do I’m posting again.  
> A few notes:  
> a. This was supposed to be a single chapter with the next one, but I had to cut it  
> b. Can you tell that I re wrote that changlix passage three times? Hope you don’t!  
> c. I’m not sure about anything anymore
> 
> Thank you all beautiful people for tuning in!

It was two hours to the start of the celebration when Woojin was let into the palace and he could swear he was going to self combust any minute now. He felt his heart slam repeatedly on the inside of his rib cage, making him worry that he might have actually developed some sort of heart disease. All in all, it wasn’t his most brilliant moment.

The man that had guided him through the entrance of the palace showed him the waiting area, where he would have been allowed to practice a little if needed, but since his voice failed him even when trying to thank him, Woojin doubted he would have been able to do any of the sorts. As he entered he froze when he realized just how many others were supposed to perform tonight, all in gorgeous outfit and practicing what Woojin could only think of as outstanding stages. Suddenly he felt sick.

He got out of the room, only to find himself in the middle of the crowded hallway, full of staff members trying to get to the main hall, where the celebration was going to take place. He was shoved multiple time and he knew his attempts at apologies all felt to silent ears. Soon he lost any sense of space, so much that he felt something too much similar to a panic attack frightening to hit him.

Luckily, he just then heard a very familiar voice. “They say the practice room is this way, he must be around here” he heard a high pitch tone say, one he would have recognized anywhere. He looked in said direction to see the boy just a few feet away, while he was trying to drag with him a less familiar boy, not half as excited as the other from the looks of it.

“Jeongin, over here!” Woojin called out, positively sure he had never been this happy to see the younger (even if not by much, it was always a pleasure to be around Jeongin). The other’s head shoot in his direction, and Woojin could pinpoint the moment he noticed him, and, just a second later, the moment he really looked at his distressed friend.

The boy made his way to him and greeted the older. “Woojin, here you are! Do you know how many rooms I mistakenly barged into before finding you?” he said while throwing himself at the older in a koala hug that would have floored most people.

Woojin couldn’t help but laugh. Jeongin was the kind of person that would have made him able to smile through hell and beyond. “I’m happy to see you too, cutie! You can’t imagine how terrified I was I had lost myself in here. This place is humongous!” he mused widening his eyes.

Jeongin giggled when he answered. “Oh, don’t worry, Jinnie, it’s pretty much clear to anyone” Woojin frowned, but resumed smiling shortly after. He readied himself to answer, only to be cut out by a pointed cough coming from behind Jeongin. He looked in that direction only to see the other boy Jeongin was previously dragging by the arm. Woojin was instantly stricken by the big and lively eyes, even if now ther was a glint of mischievousness.

Jeongin, having realized his mistake sputtered, trying to regain at least a bit of dignity before speaking up. “Well, Seungmin this is my dear friend Woojin, the one that’s going to perform tonight. Woojin, this is Seungmin. I’m sure I must have mentioned him to you. I haven’t managed to introduce him to any of you guys last time he came to the city” Seungmin didn’t let the other finish before he extended a hand in his direction.

“Hi. I’m Seungmin” he said with a crooked smirk, one that reminded the older way too much of what Minho would have in this kind of occasions. Even so, it felt weirdly reassuring, so he shook hands with the peculiar boy.

“Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Woojin and yeah, if you were to ask, Jeongin has definitely talked about you before” he smiled brightly at the other. He does remember the youngest telling him about a kid he met at the palace.

“Only good things I hope” he answered smoothly. “Hey, I heard you’ll perform tonight. That’s pretty cool” he said, making Woojin immediately tense up again at only the thought of the performance. Jeongin, seeing the disaster starting to unfold in front of him, had the good sense to intervene.

“Woojin, how about I show you around the castle for a while, just to keep yourself busy. I know you must have practiced already enough, you’ll be tired of it” he said trying to cheer the older up.

To be honest, Woojin could very much use a distraction from everything, he knew better than to wallow in self pity. Even so, he hesitated, thinking of all the other performers and how they were now practicing while he was wasting precious time.

Jeongin didn’t take the silence well, instead deciding he was going to take the situation into hand. “Hell no, man, you’re not gonna pass two hours eating at yourself. You’re coming with me” he whined, shaking the older’s shoulders.

“Please Jeongin, I really should polish up my act a little. We’re not at the inn, I can’t mess this up!” Woojin would swear that for a second his facade faltered and Jeongin could see the sheer panic in his eyes.

Still he wasn’t going to let go. “I know Woojin, and I also know you well enough to be sure that if that’s any chance for your performance to be ruined is because you spent the previous afternoon worrying yourself to exhaustion. Now get up, we’re getting out of here” and as he said he grabbed the other’s arm and yanked at it.

Woojin didn’t know if the younger had suddenly become much stronger than he remembered or his resolve had so easily dissolved at the idea of, for once, not carrying the world’s weight on his shoulder, the point being that he was suddenly being tugged out of the busy hallway. He was so preoccupied with were Jeongin was taking him that he almost failed to notice a certain puppy eyed kid slipping away in the other direction.

—————————-

Felix checked himself in the mirror a couple of more times. He couldn’t gather if he truly liked how the earring complimented the whole outfit. Maybe it was too much. Maybe it would have been better to take it off. It was so eye-catching. Was it going to be obvious he wanted to get someone’s attention?

He didn’t finish his thought process because at that moment the door flew open to reveal a mildly distressed Seungmin, who proceeded to unceremoniously sprawl himself on the freshly cleaned sheets of Felix’s bed.

The older sighed. “Do you always have to be so dramatic?” he asked, though the younger ignored him completely. He turned to look at his brother for a second, to assess if the cause of his sour mood was more or less concerning.

Seungmin finally broke the silence, only to leave Felix even more confused. “Why do I have to attend this stupid party again?” he asked as if just the thought brought him pain.

Felix knitted his eyebrows in confusion. “Mmh, I don’t know where this comes from, seeing you were so adamant for the feast to come the past few days,” Seungmin scoffed and rolled his eyes at that. Whatever, the older thought, annoyed, “but, to answer your question, I’m pretty sure you don’t” he answered simply. At that Seungmin sat up, even if he was still looking at the opposite wall instead of Felix.

“Actually you’re right, I don’t” he said, then stood up and started walking out, leaving Felix to realize just how big of a mistake he must have just made. He frantically started following his brother, who was already out of the door.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going!?” he said, finally catching up with the quick pace of the other.

“Out” he answered shortly. Felix was actually going to be scared now.

“Wait, what does that mean? Min, please don’t get in trouble tonight, father will be very angry if he has to interrupt the celebration” Felix started to plead, worried that his brother was one day going to pay for his tendencies to always go against straight orders.

But Seungmin was still Seungmin, so he laughed dryly and shrugged. “Don’t worry Lix, I know what I’m doing, I won’t get caught, you go and enjoy your party. By the way,” he said, finally looking him over, “nice outfit. Changbin is gonna lose it when he sees the earring. Good job!” he smirked through the last statement when he saw just how red the older suddenly turned.

Finally, Seungmin departed, heading in the opposite direction of the main hall, throwing one last look and a thumbs up to the brother. “Have a good time, Lix, and remember: whatever happens, don’t tell Chan” then he turned and ran down the hallway.

Felix would have liked to say he was surprised, but to be honest, he had been much more when it had seamed like the younger was excited for the party. He sighed. Apparently it was too good to be true.

He started making his way to the main hall, not having much more excuses now to wait in his room: the celebration was going to start any minute now, and he wanted to be with Chan to greet the guests. But as he walked, he couldn’t help being sad at the prospective of the younger brother not showing up at the feast. Was it too much to ask to have one single night where they could all hang out together?

He was approaching the back door of the hall and failed to realize until the last moment that someone else was coming from the opposite way. The moment he looked up, though, he regretted it, seeing as he chocked on his spit so hard he almost busted a lung.

It was Changbin who had been nearing the entrance door and, by god, the boy looked stunning. His clothes weren’t the most refined or elegant, but the vibrant green contrasted deeply with the deep black of both his hair and eyes. He also wasn’t heavy on jewelry, but Felix didn’t fail to notice the three rings added to his fingers. He hadn’t been prepared for the sight.

Changbin, who had also surprisingly lost his footing when he had seen him, immediately composed himself, bowing to Felix and greeting him properly. “Good evening, Your Highness. I’m sorry if I scared you or something. I probably should have stated my presence beforehand” he said still bowing, to which Felix immediately shook his head.

“Please, Chang- Sir Changbin,” he corrected himself, “there’s, no need to apologize. I was just lost in my own thoughts for a second. It wasn’t your fault” he sputtered, trying in any way to make so the other would stop bowing to him.

And so he did, looking his direction with a smile. “Please, Your Highness, no need to use honorifics between friends” he said with a smirk, Felix blushing at his mistake.

“Well, if I did so, you should then drop my honorific, shouldn’t you? If not it wouldn’t be fair” he said, trying to achieve what not even Chan or Jisung had managed to get from the boy.

But the other threw his head back in a loud laugh. “Prince Felix, I’m afraid I really can’t do that. It could cost me my head if the wrong people were to hear me. Apart from that, it would be an honor to know the Prince is so comfortable with me he can call me without using honorifics” he said.

Felix pouted. “Well that doesn’t seem very fair to me, so I guess I’ll have to call you Sir Changbin until you feel like you can do the same with me” he said, trying to sound at least a little authoritative, but it probably wasn’t the case seeing how Changbin was eyeing him warily.

“Prince Felix-”, he started, but got interrupted by the other.

“Don’t, please. By the way, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I wasn’t sure you would come, but I didn’t know how to ask” Felix said shyly, the subtle lie didn’t even sting on his tongue.

Changbin looked down and away from the younger boy. “I wasn’t sure myself, but Prince Chan invited me and I felt I couldn’t really refuse. What I didn’t sign up for was for having him also dressing me up” he gestured to his attire, which Felix had almost succeeded to forget, “Either him or Sir Jisung left this in my room and a card which said to dress like this for tonight. Honestly I don’t know what the two of them are up to, but I’m scared” he laughed nervously, and so would have Felix, if he didn’t knew exactly the reason why his friend and his brother had done such thing, the thought making him blush more.

He coughed in his hand, trying to look composed. “Anyway, you look good in it, so you shouldn’t worry about that” he said, fearing the other was feeling uncomfortable in the clothes that had been chosen for him for such selfish reasons.

Changbin smiled. “Thank you, Your Highness. This attire suits you very well too” he said, then realized how bold of a statement it may have seen and began stuttering, “Oh, I’m sorry Your Highness! I didn’t want for it to sound like that-”

Felix let out a giggle to let the other know he wasn’t mad about it. “Don’t you worry, Sir Changbin, you don’t have to apologize for flattering me, I appreciate the compliment” he smiled, happy when he saw the other relax and smile back.

It was Felix to speak up again. “So, how do you plan to enjoy yourself at the feast?” he asked, belatedly realizing just how dumb of a question it must have sounded like. Thankfully Changbin didn’t think so because he took the bait.

“Well I haven’t decided as in right know, but I most definitely would avoid any type of dancing!” he said, while chuckling slightly.

“Are you sure about that? Dancing is the best part of the night, better than whatever political talk my brother will have to endure” he exclaimed, only marginally feeling sorry for the older.

Changbin arched an eyebrow. “You sure are passionate about it, Your Highness”.

Felix smile grew impossibly wide. “I am! Oh, Sir Changbin, you don’t understand! It’s the best feeling in the world, like swimming, or flying!” He stopped himself when he realized he was starting rambling. Changbin was looking at him intently, but for some reason it seemed to Felix he wasn’t mad at all.

“Anyway, I’m sure you’re not half bad as you think, Sir Changbin!” he tried to divert the attention from his previous behavior.

The other started scratching the back of his back, almost embarrassed. “I’m afraid I am, Prince Felix, to my dismay. It must be nice to be able to feel what you’ve described” he said and his eyes seemed almost sorry.

Maybe those eyes were the reason he did what he most definitely regretted later. “Well, I...could always...teach you?” as soon as he said it he realized just the implications of his statement, having basically asked the other to dance with him.

Now, dancing had very different meanings depending on the situations. Felix remembers having danced with a lot of people, from his brothers to the girls his father had more than once set him up to during different events. In itself it didn’t held a lot of meaning: he knows he never felt an inch of what he feels for Changbin with any of those people.

Even so the image of the man asking his lover for a dance and the two spending the night staring into each other’s eyes like the rest of the world wasn’t there was one he couldn’t get out of his head. And when he saw the stunned look the other gave him, he was somehow led to believe that Changbin had the exact same vision running through his mind.

They stared unblinkingly at each other for a second, until the moment was broken by a servant stepping out of the door they had naively been discussing in front of for the past few minutes. The man didn’t even glance at them, but Felix could have sworn he saw Changbin hold his breath for a couple of seconds, almost as if he had been caught doing something wrong. Felix didn’t know why it stung so hard.

As soon as the man was out of sight, Changbin composed himself. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I think I should go”. He wasn’t looking at him. Felix felt his heart constrict in his chest. He didn’t want to let go of the other just yet.

“Sure,” he tried in a strained voice, “see you in there?” he asked tentively.

Changbin’s eyes where unfocused when he answered with an unconvincing Sure.

“Sir Changbin-” Felix tried to call out to him, but got cut out by the other bowing at him.

“If I may be excused, Your Highness, I’ll start making my way in” he said with a cold voice. Something in Felix seemed to break, like a shuttering glass. He really didn’t want to end the discussion here. Even more, his heart ached for the other to stop being so distant towards him.

Even feeling conflicted, Felix granted permission and looked pensively at the retrieving back of the other, who entered the main hall swiftly, not even looking back. Felix sighed, now alone. He couldn’t fault his heart for falling for the other man, but still he was very, very mad at it.

————————-

Minho had seemed much more carefree when talking to Hyunjin than he was feeling now. The tunnel was much smaller and darker than he had remembered, but it might have been the sheer terror he felt at the pit of his stomach that was heightening his claustrophobia.

Still, he wasn’t sure, seeing as he had visited the secret passage only twice before. The first time was a couple of weeks ago, when, as he was strolling around, minding his own business, he saw a kid literally come out of the ground. Shell-shocked, he hid from the unsuspecting guy and went exploring. He found the trapdoor and went through it, only to find himself on the other side of it, which was, to his amazement, in the castle’s cellars.

Minho, at first, disregarded the piece of information, beeing only mildly interested if maybe the King was so suspicious as to send spies in the city, then, when he heard Jeongin cheer about the upcoming event at the palace, something clicked in him.

You see, Minho as in the last period had started a...let’s say ‘activity’ of his own. For how undoubtably grateful he had always been to the Kims’, he knew well that the family wasn’t doing terribly well in the money department, hence why they hadn’t managed to employee neither him or Hyunjin, but just Jeongin in the face of great necessity, so he knew having him stay with them did make a not insignificant dent in their income, even if they would never admit it.

It was not even three month that a rich merchant came to town and decided to stay at the inn. Of course, Minho, not beeing exactly a people-person, didn’t even try to engage with the man, but it was impossible even for him to ignore the blatant churlishness he had towards everything and everyone around them. When Minho saw him one night refusing to pay for his drinks and loudly shouting at a distressed Mrs. Kim, he decided he had enough.

He secretly got into the man’s room, planning on doing some kind of ruckus, but decided against it at the last moment, worrying that he would have used it against the hosts in some way. Instead he did what looked like the best out of the options: he took what it was owed to them. So he did, but as he got back to his room he realized that for sure the Kims would have been furious to find out he had done something like that, so he decided on keeping the money and only slowly putting small amounts of it in the inn’s fundings.

He remembers the aftermath of it all: the sheer panic that he felt once he realized the mess he might have gotten himself too, how heavy the sin had weighted on him and how, in the end, no one busted him, to which he felt grateful, but it also gave him a sense of confidence in the act. He came to realize he was good at being sneaky.

It went so well that he decided to continue, always targeting guests at the tavern who wouldn't even notice the dent Minho was making and, after a while, he eventually decided to keep some of it for himself. Of course, he had no greed for the money, but he soon came to the conclusion that having him move out would have been more lucrative to the Kims than any of his petty crimes.

Of course, he still wasn’t the most fond of such business, but on the other end he would tell himself that the end justified the means. It wasn’t like those people were even going to notice they lacked a few pennies.

And that’s how he had decided, just a week before, he was gonna try a hit during the feast. Of course he knew it was risky, but this was a once in a lifetime possibility and, if tonight were to be successful, he could have thought of getting his own place sometimes very soon.

He started climbing up the stairs he knew were gonna soon take him to the exit of the tunnel. His heart was in his throat when he lifted as gently as possible the trapdoor, but were was no one around and he felt relief flooding him.

He had survived the hardest part. From what Jeongin had told him, all of the staff was most probably going to be at the main hall, as nobody would want to miss the celebration, and so he was free to roam around the castle mostly unguarded and even if he was to be seen, he had managed to snatch the same uniform that Jeongin was wearing, so he probably was safe from any unwanted attention.

He quickly got up to the second floor (where Jeongin had naively told him there were the rooms of the noblemen who lived in the castle) only faintly hearing the sound from the main hall that he tried to avoid as much as possible. There he perused the hallway briefly, almost with a skip to his feet, until he chose a random door which he assumed would lead him to a wealthy person room.

He opened it, still with a bit of caution, fearing there might be someone inside, but having not heard anything he made his way into the room confidently closing the heavy door behind him.

He laughed at how the room seemed to have gone through an earthquake, clothes and accessories thrown everywhere around it. Right away he snatched a couple of bag coins left mindlessly on the counter, but they probably didn’t mount to a lot, so he started searching the entire room for anything of value.

Of course, it was scattered with jewelry, but Minho resented taking that, both because it was more difficult to define in value and because it might have held personal attachment to it, and Minho might have been unethical in his methods, but he was no monster.

Even so the room (that took probably, definitely too much to search because of the chaos) was mostly bear of anything that might have took his interest. That was until, while perusing one of the smallest drawers, he saw a little box, who stood out from the rest because it seemed to having been handled with the outmost care.

The box had a very feminine appereance, decorated with incredibly realistic roses and carved by the most delicate hands, which also made Minho curious. The room definitely belonged to a man, probably young, seeing the clothing that was scattered all around (even if the kid seemed to have a rather extensive collection of earrings, bracelets and rings, which Minho only respected).

In the end, curiosity got the best of him and ever so tenderly he hopened the box, only to find a fine gold necklace, with a single pendant made out of a turquoise, the most beautiful gem Minho ever saw. It was so mesmerizing that he must have not heard the hurried steps outside the door.

“What are you doing here?” Minho felt his head snap so violently he might have been concerned about his neck if not for the very much real guy who was staring at him from the door’s entrance. Thankfully, his shoulders had been facing the door, which means at the very least he hadn’t been caught in the act.

Minho felt his breath hitch. But, surprisingly enough even to himself, recovered quickly. “Good evening, My Lord, what a pleasure is to be joined on such a lovely night” he said with a never-faltering feline smile, “May I ask you why such lovely company isn’t enjoying themselves at the far more lively celebration downstairs?”

At this point Minho’s rambling was very much apparent. Honestly, the boy would have been glad to just be able to get out of the place unscarred, money be damned, but he was inclined to find such thought hopeless. Even so, he was surprised when the other guy seemed to take the bait.

“Well, someone dropped their cup and now I’m drenched in wine, so I was hoping I could change into something else. Are you a staff member?” he asked, to which Minho nodded vigorously, having forgotten about the outfit. 

“Cool, could you pass me the shirt over there? And, since you’re already here, land me a hand, would you?” he said nonchalantly. Minho obliged immediately without a word of complaint, happy he was getting away with this so easily.

He shouldn’t have thought such idiocies.

“Say, why were you tidying up my room now of all time? Shouldn’t all staff be occupied with the party right now?” he asked, a tad of suspicion in his voice.

Minho’s hand trembled as he moved to tie the back of the guy’s shirt. “Yes, but the head maiden sent me up here, she wanted me to clean your room” he said trying to be as dismissive as possible.

He felt the other tense slightly under his touch. “She did?” He asked with an unreadable tone and Minho desperately wanted to see his face to read where his discomfort came.

“Yes,” he tried to play it off nonchalantly, “she was so sure you would leave it a mess, My Lord, not that I would ever think anything of the sort” he chuckled briefly, trying to sound as natural as possible.

The guy didn’t move for a second, then he lowered his hands to something by his side. “I’m sorry you must be mistaken. We only have a head butler at the castle” he turned and took his dagger out just as soon as Minho managed to jump a few feet backwards in time to duck him.

“Who are you and what do you want?” the guy asked again, more forcefully now, but didn’t wait a response as he launched himself at him and Minho again got out of the blade’s way just in time.

As he collected himself, Minho couldn’t help but smile, “Hey now, is this how you were teached to accomodate people at the castle, kid? I thought you were all well mannered here!” he said cockily while now jumping on the messy bed as the guy had tried to attack him again.

“No, but this is how we treat thiefs around here!” he exclaimed while going after him again.

“Oh, thief, what a filthy word! I prefer to call myself an unwanted guest!” Minho snickered, “But how about we start again, maybe by introducing each other! I’m Lee Minho, what about you?”

Minho knew by now he wasn’t getting out of this by running away: even if the kid wasn’t gonna catch him, he would have surely alerted the guards. His only hope was to now find a way, any way, to get the guy to shut his mouth. Well, that wasn’t going well for now.

“Well, I’m Han I’m going to fucking kill you” he said while launching himself at Minho again, only for the other boy to now jump on the even more messy desk, in a leap that he only barely managed to recover from.

“Well, nobody’s got time for that! How ‘bout just Han! It’s short, easy to remember and rolls off the tongue well!” He said jokingly, but was surprised when the other boy didn’t respond immediately. Instead his gaze was locked on something that had slightly slipped out of Minho’s pocket in the jump. 

Minho took out with gentle fingers the necklace he had previously found. He smiled with his feline smile again. Bingo. “Is this important to you?” he asked with a knowing tone, one he knew had driven people over the edge before. This time wasn’t different.

Han suddenly took on a far darker look. “Give it back! Now!” he said with what he probably considered his serious voice but, honestly, Minho felt nothing if not endeared.

He chuckled evilly. “Why would I? Shouldn’t I get something in return from it?” he asked, trying to sound as much nonchalant as possible. He was so close.

Han didn’t take the hint though. “Give it back!” he shouted while throwing the knife. For a hot second, Minho was taken aback, until the knife plunged itself on the wall just beside his left leg. He gulped, but immediately gained back his bravado.

“Wrong move, kid. If you’re gonna throw your only weapon at your opponent make it sure it lands” he said while picking up the knife. He then brought it up and slipped it in the necklace. The thing was such fine making that the necklace was certainly going to at least be ruined by using the blade on it. “Now wouldn’t it be terrible if something where to happen to this thing” he singsonged, knowing fully well he definitely had the upper hand in this situation.

“No! Please, I’ll do anything! Please, don’t do it-” to say that Minho was shocked by how fast the boy seemed to suddenly change his demeanor was an understatement. Han, that seconds ago was throwing fucking daggers at him, was now crumpled up on his knees, pleading him as tears where just about to spill from his eyes.

When the tears did spill he brought his head down to his hands and started sobbing. Minho’s heart constricted into his chest. The necklace really had to mean a lot to this kid. He sighed, already regretting his decision, but then lowered the knife and disregarded it, but still kept back for the boy.

“Hey kid” as he called out to him, Han looked up. He put his hands up in defense, still gripping the necklace. “Listen, I truly didn’t pick anything else from here, neither I got into any other rooms. I honestly don’t have any business here anymore, so if you promise me to let me get out of here and you don’t rat me out, I’ll give you the necklace back” he said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. He needed this kid to trust him for this thing to work.

Han gave him an odd look. It honestly looked ridiculous with how he was still bent on the previous position, hands hanging and tear-stained face. “For real?” he asked and Minho had to try not to laugh at the way his voice cracked. He instead shrugged.

“Sure, I mean- I’m not gonna pretend I hadn’t intended to” Han narrowed his eyes at him and  
Minho cursed himself for his honesty, “but now I that I was busted I would rather get out of here as fast as possible” he said and Han arched an eyebrow.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth” he asked, having now sat back and looking at him quizzically. To that Minho smiled his titural smile.

“You don’t you’ll just have to trust me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey stays!  
> I’ve been rewatching Stray Kids’ stage for Fancy way too much, help I’m obsessed.  
> My will to live is running so thin I don’t know how I’m still capable of doing this but I had this wrote down already so I just said Fuck it.  
> Hope you all have a lovely evening (it’s 1.20 am in my country now) <<<<<33333


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone this chapter: WOOJIN!  
> How the night ends for people both in and out of the palace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things to remember:  
> 1\. Woojin isn’t my bias (he’s my bias wrecker though)  
> 2\. Han has become the name Minho uses with Jisung and that’s cute  
> 3\. If it helps, I was imagining Woojin singing to Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire”  
> 4\. Please stan Stray Kids

“You should have seen my wife’s face when I told her that! It was, may I say, priceless!” the stocky man laughed way too hard at his own story for Chan’s taste, but that didn’t stop him from laughing with him in the most natural way he could muster. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had to do stuff like that before.

“Oh, Lord Nam, I’m sure it was the case. Poor Lady Nam had to deal with yet another of your endeavors. May I say, the woman has a patience of gold” he said smiling, knowing well the man took way too much pride in those questionable activities of him than he probably should.

The man laughed whole-heartedly again and patted Chan on the back so hard he almost spat out his drink. “You got that right, Your Highness. It’s the only reason I married the woman” he said continuing to pat him way to hard, while Chan gave him a tight smile. He knew for a fact that wasn’t the case. Lady Nam may have gotten the noble title through marriage, but her family was far richer than her husband’s, who had been on the verge of bankruptcy a few times.

“May I excuse myself, my Lord, but unfortunately duty calls for me” he said through gritted teeth, hoping the Lord wouldn’t see through the bullishit. Apparently he didn’t.

“Of course, Your Highness, I’m sure you have far more important things to do than talk to an old man like me” he laughed resuming his previous motion and Chan was sure he was going to spit a lung if he didn’t manage to get out of there immediately.

“It’s been a pleasure, Lord Nam. I hope to see you on the next occasion” he said half-heatedly and departed before the man got in his head to continue the conversation in some way.

As soon as the man was out of ear-shot Chan drew a sigh of relief. As the Crown Prince, Chan was always expected to engage with people as much as possible, if anything at least for the politics. He well understood and he actually didn’t hate it...most of the time. He considered himself a very sociable person and for the most part loved keeping up with any type of conversation, from economics to the casual gossip. Even so, he had to admit that certain personality weren’t as enjoyable to talk to than others. And, as he was walking to one side of the hall, he was happy to catch with his eyes one of his favorite people to talk to.

“Felix!” he called out for him as the kid was standing uncomfortably having been dragged in a conversation by a couple of duchesses. His brother pent up at his voice and excused himself before making his way towards him. “Thank god, Chan. Those two started talking to me about a knew fashion trend that was expanding in the kingdom and I was terrified they were gonna ask me my opinion! I don’t even remember who they are!” Felix told him frantically as Chan laughed at him. He pointed at one of the two, “That’s Duchess Sung and her sister, their from the Dukedom of Nefan” he said nonchalantly.

Felix scoffed. “God, I don’t know how you do it. It’s so unfair, I can barely remember my birthday and you could name every single person in this room under two minutes! Honestly, how are we even brothers?” now he was pouting slightly and Chan resisted the temptation of just coo at him and ruffle his hair, knowing it probably wasn’t appropriate for the time and place. Instead he chuckled and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

He then started looking around and only then registered that his brother was alone and not with their friends. “Wait, were is everybody?” he asked confused. The boy arched an eyebrow. “Everybody who?” he asked and Chan almost rolled his eyes. Instead he nudged him slightly to tell him to cut out the bullshit.

Felix sighed. “Well, Jisung was running around like an idiot, so of course he knocked into some of the waiters and spilled wine on his shirt. By the way he didn’t drink, so if he smell like wine that’s because of that” he said but stopped there.

“What about Seungmin?” he prodded foreword, but Felix didn’t answer immediately. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Felix...” the older warned and Felix rolled his eyes this time. “He’s not here” he said like it was nothing. Chan’s eyes grew big.

“He’s not?” he exclaimed. “But yesterday he told me-” Felix cut him off. “Yes, I know he said he was coming, but today he dropped by my room and said he wasn’t feeling it so he didn’t come after all” Felix seemed to be almost as annoyed as Chan felt, which wasn’t much of use but he decided not to push, instead starting to massaging his temples. Fuck appearances, that kid was going to give him a migraine.

He stopped his motion when he realized someone else was missing. “What about Changbin?” he said almost incredulously. He had personally invited the kid so he knew he was going to show up and he wasn’t going to say that he and Jisung had basically made sure to set him and his brother up, but that’s exactly what he’s saying!

Felix dropped his eyes to the floor, his cheeks the slightest pink. “What about him?” he said sheepishly and Chan swore he would have punched himself if he wasn’t in public. “What do you think?” he said unamused, then more vehemently “Where is him?”

Felix shrugged with a neutral look. “I don’t know, somewhere in here probably” he told in a controlled way, like he didn’t want to be caught saying something inappropriate.

“And why aren’t you talking to him? You asked me to invite him!” he said, accentuating the pronoun to make sure Felix wouldn’t play dumb again.

The younger’s facade finally cracked slightly and Chan saw a fraction of self-deprecation in his little brother’s eyes. Oh no. “He doesn’t wanna talk to me” he said like it was an obvious statement instead of an absolute lie.

“No he doesn’t, he loves talking to you!” the older tried to reason. If there was one thing he hated more than lies was when his little brother suffered because of them. Felix seemed to grow more annoyed with the statement, like he knew it was right but he didn’t want to make himself believe it.

“Well, apparently not as much as I do” he said with a tense voice. Chan was stunned. Maybe he didn’t realize the magnitude of this thing when he and Jisung had took upon himself to make it happen. “Oh Felix...” he started with a small voice, but the other jumped before his brother could touch him, even if in comfort.

“Listen he made it abundantly clear he wants to have a strictly professional relationship with me, so I’ll just have to accept that and move on” he said sternly, almost more to himself than Chan. The older could hardly believe that but he feared he had already caused enough troubles as it was, so he left it at that for now.

A commotion at the far end of the hall took his attention before he realized what was about to happen. He felt excitement run through him and an unconscious smile tug at his lips. “Oh my god Felix, look at that!” he pointed at where the dance floor was being cleared to make space for the upcoming entertainment of the night “The show is about to start” he told his brother, both to distract him but also out of sheer happiness, even if his brother seemed just as happy to see what was going on.

Even with the food and the company, Chan couldn’t help but think that the performances that were scheduled for the end of the night were his favorite part of probably any celebration he had attended. For how much he didn’t mind at all his duty as a prince, this was the only time he wasn’t much more than an audience member, and that wasn’t all of it. The shows that the performers managed to put on were always gorgeous: there were dancers, jesters, magicians and so on, and Chan always found himself marveling at them. But if he had to be honest if there was anything that always managed to take his breath away was the music performances.

Now, Chan didn’t have much spare time for his own interests. To be honest he basically had not time for that. When he wasn’t working with his father or studying with his tutors, he could choose between a couple of very few activities, such as riding, sparing and such, all meticulously hand-picked by his father as he had claimed them to be worthy of a king. Now, had it been Chan choice, he knows he would have chosen to study music, which had always fascinated him.

He had more than once asked his fater to let him do so, but the man had always declined, which Chan found odd since he knew a lot of other noble and members of royalty did so, but he didn’t complain. It wasn’t like he hated those activities anyway, so he focused on what he had to do and, once in a while, tried to make work of some of the musical instruments, to mostly no avail since he didn’t have a teacher. So his uncultured passion for music almost only came out in situations where he was no more than a spectator.

Tonight was no difference. He watched through all of the performances, loving each and every single one but also quivering with excitement at the perspective of experience live music for the first time in a while. It was with surprise when finally, after the show of the fire eater, a single guy with what Chan recognized as a fairly common instrument walked out and set in the middle of the performance area.

Chan knitted his brows. Most of the time, music was played by large ensembles of instruments and voices or at least by a few of them. It was unusual for celebrations at the palace to host bards or other solo acts. Chan remembers listening to a couple of them, but had found them to be often too simplistic, so he tried not to be too disappointed.

The guy seemed so small in a place that had been previously filled by so much colorful things and people. Chan almost took pity on him. He didn’t seem to be much older than him and, even if he couldn’t see his face at all, the amount of time he was taking to begin on his act seemed to be an indication of how tense he was. Chan was about to get worried when he started singing.

The moment his voice reached the prince, Chan froze. It was only after a while that the stringed instrument came in while the guy briefly stopped singing and Chan drew a breath as he had literally stopped breathing moments before. Damn was basically all his brain could process as soon enough the song picked on and the other started singing again. Chan swore he never heard a voice like that. The tone was a comfy and sweet one, like honey and milk, but still held a force that made it possible for the voice to travel through air up to each corner of the hall.

Suddenly, he didn’t look small or pitiful, but rather his voice filled the hall to the brim and he seemed to shine on his own.

Chan couldn’t look away, couldn’t blink, couldn’t breath, couldn’t think. By the end of the song, the guy was singing with such moving passion Chan almost got up and ran to him, only stopping when he realized he wouldn’t have known what to do. When the song ended and the hall erupted in loud cheers Chan finally woke up from his astonishment, only for his heart to cry at the loss of the voice. He missed the inquisitive looks Felix was throwing him.

The guy only performed a few more songs before getting up. At that Chan stood up, realizing that he couldn’t in any way let that guy walk out of his life for what could have been forever like this. So, as he saw him making his way towards the back exit he followed him, completely ignoring Felix calling out to him. Thankfully enough, the door was at the same distance from the both of them, so he managed to get out only moments after him.

“Hey!” he called out when he entered the hallway. The other whipped his head so quickly Chan almost feared that he had hurted himself. His eyes were already big, probably out of bewilderment after the show, but grew bigger when he took in who was talking to him. He immediately turned and dipped into a deep bow. “Your Highness, I-” he was cut off by Chan.

“Oh no, please get up, I just wanted to congratulate you on your performance tonight!” he said, hoping the small lie would make the stranger feel slightly more at ease. Either way, he couldn’t have just said I’m obsessed with your voice, please sing for me forever. 

It seemed to work as the other tentatively straightened his posture and reciprocated a small smile. “Thank you, Your Highness, it’s truly a honor to receive such praise from you. I’m glad you appreciated the performance” he said dipping his head again a little.

“Oh, I did more than appreciate it, I loved it!” he said in a way that had to be way too enthusiastic to be appropriate, but he found he didn’t care when the other’s cheeks colored a little. The two remained silent for a couple of seconds before Chan spoke up again.

“Anyways, what’s your name?” he said trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, probably failing seeing how big the other’s eyes grew in bewilderment. Great, Chan, he thought to himself, real smooth of you. He was about to take that back when the other answered so quickly Chan almost didn’t catch it at all. 

“Woojin!” he exclaimed. Chan couldn’t help but find the other’s embarrassment a little endearing, if anything because he saw his own nervousness mirrored in him. “Well Woojin, I’m Chan, even if you probably already know this” he extended his hand, retrieving it when he realized that probably was a boundary he shouldn’t yet cross.

“So...” he tried to come up with something to keep the conversation going, “do you sing often?” he started, then realized it probably didn’t make much sense as a question, so he continued, “I mean in public! Of course you sing a lot!” he tried to mend to his mistake and was surprised when Woojin started chucking a little. Damn, even his laughter sounds angelic, he thought, then wait what?!

“Well-“ Woojin started after finishing to laugh, but was cut off by loud voices coming from the nearby hallway. In that moment they came to face with two figures who had then turned the corner. One he didn’t recognized, the other...

“Minho!” he heard Woojin exclaim at the same time he said “Jisung!”. Chan looked over at him, but found the other utterly shocked and not mirroring the action. “What are you doing here!?” Woojin asked his friend, which Chan didn’t fail to notice looked as if he had been caught in some horrible act. They all stayed still for a couple of moments before this Minho finally piped up.

“Woojin! What a coincidence seeing you here! Well, I didn’t want to tell you but I came here to visit a close friend of mine” he said suddenly, way too loudly for it to sound natural, while motioning to Jisung. “He’s Han!” he told Woojin. Han? Well that’s knew Chan couldn’t help but think. Jisung, on his part, looked as shocked as anybody else, till Minho started whispering in his ear, to which his expression grew frustrated, then calm.

“Yeah, hi, I’m Han Jisung!” he waved like he was being forced to. Chan was getting more confused by the minute.

“And you are Minho?” he finally asked, to which everyone finally turned their attention to him like he had just entered the room.

“Yep” Minho answered undeterred, “you must be Han’s friend, we were just hanging out for a while, but now he’s all yours!” He all but threw Jisung in his arms, then took Woojin by the arm and dragged him away without further ado.

“Bye, Han, thanks for everything!” he shouted as he ran into the hall, Woojin still in tow, before any of the other two stunned individual could do anything but shout “Wait!” in unison. Chan thought for a second to pursue them, then decided against it. Instead looked down to a distressed looking Jisung, that still had to untangle himself from him. He wanted to ask so many questions, but the only one that came up was, “So, Han?!”

The other grunted a little, still in his arms. “Shut up!” he said, before detaching from the older and begrudgingly making his way into the hall, slamming the door close after himself.

Chan stood there for a couple of seconds, trying to process everything that had happened. He sighed when he realized he had probably lost any chance to find Woojin ever again.

——————-

Hyunjin braced himself against the chill of the night. Summer was going to come soon, but still it wasn’t as hot as he would have liked, especially this late at night. Even so he didn’t know were else he could go. Most days at this hour he would be at the inn chatting away with his friends, but today he knew none of them would be there. As for going home, Hyunjin knew better than return when the place was still filled with people.

Instead he thought it would be better to spend the night roaming the streets aimlessly, even if he was regretting it now. Not that it scared him, he knew this village better than anyone (except maybe Minho) and, if it came to it, he knew how to fend for himself. The thing was that he felt kind of lonely like this.

He started recalling a time when he would do this every night, a time he had yet to meet his friends and had only ever known his mother and her colleagues. Not that he didn’t feel loved or neglected by them, but unfortunately they did have work and Hyunjin couldn’t interfere with that all the time.

Then, as soon as he was bold enough to get out of the house without his mother’s consent, he started spending most of his spare time like this, which made him well acquainted with most of the village map. When his mother busted him, he was surprised that, instead of scolding him, she taught him a few useful tricks for self defense. In the end, she had seemed almost proud he had decided to be independent.

The thought brought a smile to his face, although the moment was broke when he heard a harsh voice come from a back alley nearby, followed by a high-pitched squeal. This didn’t sound good at all.

He slowly got closer, careful not to make a single sound and listened in the grunts of the guy who supposedly was harassing whoever had been so unfortunate to get into his line of sight. “Listen, midget, I don’t know why you go around alone at night dressed all fancy and shit, but you better give me everything you have on you, maybe that’ll teach something” he heard him say and decided to peak around the corner out of curiosity.

A big, scrappy looking man was ferociously eyeing and pointing a knife at a terrified kid, probably his age, that had flattened himself against the dirty wall. “I-I-...I swear I don’t have anything on me!” he finally shouted out.

“Lies! You’re too well dress for that to be true!” the guy had taken a couple of more steps forward while grinding his teeth at the boy. Hyunjin gave the latter a look over. To the eye of the mugger the kid might have looked like a noble, but Hyunjin knew better. Even if the clothes were definitely freshly cleaned and of finer manufacture than what you would find in the village, they were nowhere near anything a noble would were. Even so, it was probable the boy was some sort of staff member from the castle. But why would he be here? Hyunjin asked himself. Even so he could believe the boy wasn’t running around with gold in his pockets, contrary to the scary looking man, so he decided to intervene.

“Hey!” he called out to the man once he got into view, “Why won’t you pick on someone your size!” he felt a little obnoxious saying so, but he hadn’t come up with anything better for the time being. Either way, he was glad to see he had gained both people’s attention and now the man was growling back at him, probably unhappy to having been interrupted.

Even so, he seemed to take the bait and, having ascertained with a look he would have been able to take the kid down, he launched himself at him, while Hyunjin braced himself for what was coming. As soon as he was at arms-reach, Hyunjin took the man arm and twisted it to both disarm him and painfully drag the man to his knees. When the man obliged between whines, Hyunjin kicked him where the sun doesn’t shine, taking the man by surprise, before punching him straight on the nose, knowing it was where it hurt most. He didn’t expect for his own wrist to bend weirdly, but by now he was running on adrenaline so he dodged the man’s body and ran straight to the guy.

The latter had been frozen in shock for the last few moments, watching the whole scene in pure horror. Hyunjin grabbed his hand to get his attention, “Come on! He’ll get up soon and you don’t want to be here when it happens!” he said and started running with the stranger in tow. He was happy to see the other didn’t need to be told twice and was keeping his pace.

Mentally scanning the village’s map, he decided the shortest way was the one to the inn. He took a secondary route when he heard the heavy steps and grunts from the man he had just taken down. Without looking back once, he run through the alleys like it was second nature to him, making sure the man would loose track of them before they got into the tavern. On the back of his mind he smirked thinking the night had turned out to be way more eventful than what he could have imagined.

—————-

To say Seungmin was still in shock when he entered what was looking like an inn would be an understatement. While both he and the stranger who had saved him were trying to regain a little composure from the exhausting run, he couldn’t help envision in his head the surreal scene that had happened in front of his eyes: the man...the glinting knife in the moonlight...then the boy...the fight...and finally the flashing streets with heavy footsteps as background.

He didn’t have time to ask himself how he had gotten himself in such a position when the stranger addressed him. “Are you okay?” he panted through rugged breaths. Seungmin looked up to look at the boy for the first time, his mind clearing from all the fear and the shock.

The boy didn’t look much older than him. He had raven hair a little to long for his liking and a beauty spot under his left eye. Also his lips were weirdly distracting. “Uh,” the guy reinforced looking confused when Seungmin didn’t answer, so he straightened up almost too fast and responded quickly.

“Yes! Of course!” he tried not to sound flustered, then realizing he still had to thank the stranger he got into a deep bow, “Thank you so much for saving me!” he almost screamed. He then stayed in such position until he heard high pitched snickering coming from above him and saw the stranger’s legs shake with laughter. He looked up.

“No need to be so formal” the guy said through snickers. He then extended a hand, “By the way we haven’t got the chance to introduce each other yet. I’m Hyunjin!” he exclaimed happily.

Seungmin was hesitant for a second before taking it. “I’m Seungmin!” he said while smiling brightly. Hyunjin reciprocated the smile.

“Well, Seungmin, why is someone like you roaming the streets at night like it’s nothing?” he said with an amused look on his face.

Seungmin arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” he asked confused.

Hyunjin laughed again. “Well, you’re clearly not from around here, it was the whole reason that guy was harassing you in the first place” he said with a glint in his eyes “so I’d assume you’re from the castle? So what are you here for?” he asked, but Seungmin didn’t have an explanation that would have made sense so he desperately searched for a way to get out of such conversation.

“Well...” he tried to buy some time, till his eyes caught what they were looking for. “Oh my god! Your hand!” he addressed and Hyunjin looked at it like he had just remember he had probably twisted his wrist when he punched the guy. At the look of surprise, Seungmin realized that it was probably the case.

“Yes, I should probably get it checked” he finally said, taking his arm into his other hand, probably only know starting to feel the pain too. “Mind to help me?” he asked and when Seungmin nodded he started making his way through the tables, the other following after.

They made their way to the kitchen first, where Hyunjin greeted the cook, who barely looked up from his work to say hi back, then through a back door who led to what looked like the apartments of the owners. The place looked terribly small, but Seungmin couldn’t help but find it comfy thanks to the way it was furnished, with flowers scattered across it and embroidery works on the walls. Seungmin stood there while Hyunjin got a first aid kit from a cabinet from what looked like a shared living and dining area. When he did, he motioned to a table with chairs.

Having set down, Seungmin let Hyunjin struggle with the bandages for exactly two seconds before deciding to take matters into hand. The other was smart enough to realize he wasn’t in a situation to protest, to which Seungmin was happy. He started by cleaning the blood on his knuckles with water but changed it to alcohol as soon as he spotted the bruises.

“So...” Hyunjin started, probably to break the still silence that had formed “What happened to you? Isn’t there a party or something at the castle? Why aren’t you there?” he continued with curiosity and Seungmin sighed, moving to see if the wrist joint was misplaced. It didn’t look like it, so he went on by bandaging it.

“Let’s say I’m not a fan of celebrations” or the king, was what he thought but didn’t say.

Hyunjin looked perplexed. “So you came out here?” Seungmin chuckled at the funny inflection in his voice.

“I guess so” he all but shrugged, leaving Hyunjin more stunned. He looked like he was going to ask something else but the door suddenly flew open, to reveal a flustered woman. “Woojin!” she called out only to be surprised at the sight of the two boys in the room.

“Oh, hi Hyunjin. My husband said you came in with someone else and I assumed...” she trailed off when her eyes landed on Seungmin. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry I must have looked so rude. I’m Kim Seyun, and you are?” she asked with a bright smile.

“I’m Seungmin, sorry for intruding without asking” he answered politely bowing his head as Hyunjin had at least the decency to look a little guilty.

“Sorry ma’am” he said sheepishly, “it’s just, we kind of were in a rush. As for Woojin, sorry but I don’t know when he’ll come back” he answered and the woman seemed to sag slightly at the words, but not enough for her to stop smiling.

Only then Seungmin finally registered the name. “Wait,” he suddenly perked up, drawing both of their attention, “you mean the Woojin who was gonna perform tonight at the palace?” he asked.

Mrs. Kim looked positively shocked. “Yeah, he’s my son. Do you know him?” she inquired suddenly eager.

“Yeah, Jeongin introduced us today” Seungmin answered honestly and the others’ eyes widened even more.

“You know Innie too!?” Hyunjin asked shocked, and Seungmin would have responded if Mrs. Kim hadn’t enveloped him in a hug unexpectedly.

“Oh, that changes everything than! You’re free to come in and out of here whenever you want, kid. Woojin’s friends are our friends!” she continued, but Seungmin couldn’t even thank her because she was already on her knees by his chair and addressing him once more. 

“Do you happen to know when the feast will be over?” her eyes were terribly pleading for her to having asked such an easy question.

“Well, events at the palace usually don’t last over midnight so he’ll probably be home in...” he looked up at the clock on the wall finally realizing just how screwed he was. It was ten minutes to midnight. “...no more then thirty minutes. Sorry but actually, that’s my cue to leave” he said to no one in particular.

He faced Hyunjin, who by now had his wrist bandaged and was looking at him shell-shocked. “Thank you again for tonight, Hyunjin,” then turning to the woman, still kneeled “and thank you Mrs. Kim for your hospitality. I won’t forget what you both did for me” he said.

Just as she clamped her hands and smiled offering a you’re welcome, Hyunjin shot up from his chair and took his arm to stop him. “Wait!” he stopped then continued, “Will you manage out there alone?” Seungmin would have thought he was worried for him if he didn’t know better.

For the nth time that evening, he shrugged, “Sure, most probably” he shrugged his hand off and made his way out of the door without looking back.

He only managed to hear Mrs. Kim shout a “Come by whenever you feel like, sweetie!” and he smiled slightly at himself. He wondered if he ever would have had the chance to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was honestly super fun to write. As for new updates, I have written down most of chapter four so that will probably come out, but after that I’ll have to stop for a while and do something actually productive. Thanks again for reading I love all of you <333333333333


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot is unraveled. Things are getting set up to be interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hayo! Look who’s back!  
> Admittedly I wanted to post this yesterday, but I didn’t sonhere am I. For the first time, I don’t have the next chapter written down, so you’ll have to actually wait for that (actually I don’t know, depends on when I start on it). Anyways this has been proofread like once badly, but please enjoy xoxo

“Innie!” Jeongin heard someone call out to him and woke up quickly, fearing something scary might have happened. Of course no such thing was true, instead his sister was shaking him violently out of his bed, to Jeongin’s displeasure.

“Heaven’s sake, Jiwoo! What do you want?!” He hissed at her, while shoving her off and try to find a comfortable position to fall back a sleep. In truths, he well knew why she was here.

“Time to get to work, snake!” she said placing a hand on Jeongin’s covers and all but disregarding them completely. He felt like crying at the loss of the precious piece of fabric. Instead he decided to begrudgingly make his way out of bed and into the kitchen.

He entered the room feeling still groggy, repeatedly rubbing at his eyes. “Hey, look who managed to show up!” his sister joked from the other side of the room, where she was already seated while their mum was cooking breakfast. Jeongin only briefly regarded her with a short dirty look, to which she answered by showing him her tongue. Honestly, how was she the oldest sometimes surprised Jeongin.

Not pressing the matter anymore, he went instead to back hug his mother, to which the woman giggled lovingly. “Hey baby, how did you sleep?” she asked tentatively, but Jeongin was already engulfed in the woman’s warmth and about to enter dream land again so he barely grunted in response. That was until his own mother turned around and moved him to a chair in the attempt to not ruin breakfast.

“Do you remember when I came back late at night yesterday and you were still up, so I scolded you because you would have regretted it in the morning. Well, I wouldn’t like to say that I told you so, but-” her rant was cut off but an annoyed Jeongin.

“Then don’t” he said while rolling his eyes. His sister looked positively ready to throw hands at the younger for being disrespectful when their mother decided that it was time for breakfast to be ready. Jeongin noticed that the eggs looked only slightly undercooked.

After thanking their mother for the meal, the three started eating in the early morning air, the silence bringing in the sounds from outside, where the rest of the world was starting to wake up too.

“So you were up late honey?” his mother broke silence, which made Jeongin gulp and glare at his sister looked at him with innocent eyes. Snake. He nodded briefly at her mother who continued. “May I ask why?” she asked and Jeongin sighed.

To be true, he had had trouble sleeping for the last few days for a couple reasons. The first being namely Seungmin. Now, the two hadn’t known each other for a lot, on the contrary their friendship had developed quickly and so much that there hadn’t been time for the two of them to actually get to know much of each other’s personal life.

Even so he couldn’t help ask himself what happened the night of the feast. Sure, the two might have not been the closest, but still to just leave someone like that in the middle of things didn’t make sense. Did he got busy? Did he get lost? Did he run away? And if that was the case, why?

The second reason, and admittedly the most prominent, instead regarded none other than his father.

“It’s just that a friend is acting weirdly, don’t worry about it mom” he tried to comfort her, but didn’t fail to notice how her lips were drew in a tight line. She looked kind of tired herself. Maybe he wasn’t the only one to have trouble sleeping.

Sensing the tense air, his sister piped up in hope to raise the morale. “So, I’ve heard from our dear brother and apparently he might be able to make it for the weekend” she said smugly, knowing the piece of news was going to be welcomed in the sour mood. And it was.

Jeongin jumped up from his seat. “He is! Oh my god, he hasn’t come around in ages! That’s awesome!” For a second he worried about being too loud but no one protested, so he took it as a win.

“Oh that’s wonderful news!” their mother rejoiced, “I’ll go grocery shopping tomorrow morning for the occasion. It’s been a while we all ate together” the smile her mother was giving them was making Jeongin even more giddy. She hadn’t smiled like that in a while now.

Joonki’s job had always looked to Jeongin like the coolest thing in the world. It wasn’t everyday you got to be the sparing teacher of the court, so no one wanted to believe it when he actually managed to get it. The downside was, of course, that they didn’t get to see them nearly as often.

“Oh, I have to tell Minho! The two haven’t had a match in so much now! I wonder who will win this time!” Jeongin exclaimed, but in his head another idea was forming. It had been a couple of years now that his brother was working at the castle, so he was bound to know at least a couple of people in there and Jeongin was ready to bet he would know someone as nosy as Seungmin. Maybe he would have been able to get to the bottom of that mess after all.

“Well, I’m gonna bring dad breakfast if you’re finished” his mother suddenly stood up, a tray of food in her hands. Jeongin shoot up immediately.

“Mom, sorry, but could I do it instead today?” he asked, already moving to take it. His mother looked stunned for not even a beat before moving the tray in his hands carefully with a big smile on her face. Jeongin smiled back.

“Sure, sweetie! Be careful with the milk!” she called out at the end making him huff in frustration. That was one time!

He opened their parents’ room slowly, expecting for his father to still be asleep. He was surprised to see that his eyes where both open, even if sunken and more distant than ever.

“Dad?” he called softly, and was happy to see the man responded immediately, already shooting him a bright smile.

“Look who we got here!” he said looking at him fondly, “I was expecting a beautiful woman to come visit, but instead I wind up with this little imp!” he said, Jeongin smiling at the name they had started using when he was little, long before they came to realize Jeongin, despite his family’s genes, was going to grow so tall.

“I’m not a kid anymore, dad! Mum says that by the time I’ll be Jiwoo’s age I’ll be the tallest of the family!” he said lightheartedly and giggled when his father played along.

“You will! Then I’ll need to call you something else” he pretended to think for a while “What about tree? That seems appropriate” he laughed when Jeongin shoved him gently to let him know his disapproval. He recoiled a little when his father started coughing uncontrollably for a few long moments, moving to try and soothe him drawing circles with his palm on his back.

Finally, his dad took the tray from his hands and started eating. “So, I hear you went to the feast the other night” he tried to change the topic, to which Jeongin started going on a rampage about everything and everyone. His dad nodded through all of it. He had always been a good listener.

Jeongin remembers the day his dad had fallen sick. At first, it hadn’t seemed more than a cold, but soon they all realized that wasn’t it. Not when it didn’t get better after weeks. Or when even the most mundane tasks made his legs give out. The doctor hadn’t been very specific on the situation, meaning that he mostly didn’t know what affected him or, even worse, hadn’t wanted to tell the family. He simply stated that the best for him was to keep him at rest.

The thing was that, after a month of being bedridden, his father had been fired from his previous job at the mill. Their mother had been desperate, trying to juggle alone having to raise three kids and pay the medical bills. When it was evident she wouldn’t have managed, the three siblings had decided to intervene.

She hadn’t been happy about them having to get jobs, but after hours of pleas she had permitted it and that was how Jeongin, at the ripe age of fourteen, after a lot of tries had stumbled upon the Kims’ tavern praying for a job. Of course Mr. Kim, upon hearing his story, had immediately employed him, also with the promise to teach him the job. Jeongin remembers crying into the man shoulder for what could have been hours afterwards.

In the past two years Jeongin had managed pretty well, even if working was a little exhausting at times, and their whole family had started doing way better. But nothing could ever go completely right. That was how a few nights ago his father had had a stronger coughing fit, which had particularly scared them when he had started spitting blood.

The doctor didn’t give any useful advice in the matter, he only looked more careful, like his fater was made of glass. Jeongin wanted to cry at the thought. Even so, he couldn’t be deterred, he couldn’t let himself believe his father wasn’t going to be alright. So he smiled through any of his worries, ready to face any hardship headfirst.

—————-

“Changbin, slow down for the love of god!” Changbin felt himself get out of his stupor as soon as he heard the words. He stopped his horse to be met with an annoyed looking Jisung panting after him on his own horse.

“God, I should know better than to seek your company when you’re like this” he said when he finally reached him.

Changbin arched an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“Like you’re so deep into your own thoughts you won’t listen to anything or anyone. And I thought I could distract myself with you for a while” he said more to himself than to Changbin. The older wondered what had him so worked up, but didn’t push.

“So what happened with Felix?” Jisung asked so suddenly Changbin almost fell off his horse. He looked back at the other with wide eyes.

“Oh don’t give me that, Changbin. You get that thoughtful only for two things, and I know for a fact that the knights aren’t going to comeback anytime near soon. So what happened? Didn’t you talk at the feast?” he sounded so impatient Changbin felt compelled to answer sincerely.

“Not really. We met before it started but didn’t cross path afterwords. Then I didn’t felt like staying anymore and left halfway through” he answered, and that much was true. Since he was trying very hard not to met with Felix anymore, he didn’t feel like spending the night with either Jisung or Chan. As for the other staff members, he felt strange going to them dressed up as he was, so at some point he decided to just go, since it wasn’t going to get better anytime soon.

“Oh Changbin, Changbin,” Jisung was shaking his head like he knew better, “Why can’t you just get it together and stop making it so difficult for everyone?” Changbin frowned at the comment.

“Sorry, what?” he asked in confusion to his friend. It wasn’t new for Jisung to come up with bold statements, but either way he didn’t appreciate the patronizing tone. He was still the older one here.

“I’m just saying, why don’t you let loose a little? I know you think that it would be a scandal or something if someone were to found out the prince and the stable boy are...whatever the two of you want to be,” Changbin blushes at the implication, “but I swear nothing of the sorts will happen. Stuff like this goes down all the time, it’s no big deal” he squealed in frustration.

Changbin drew a sigh, preparing to deny any of the implications Jisung might have suggested. Then at the last moment he decided against it. There was no point in continuing to try and lie to the one person he could consider his closest friend.

“It’s not that simple, Sir Jisung” he said pensively.

“And why is that, Sir Changbin?” Jisung was smiling as he mocked his way of speaking. Changbin glared but didn’t respond to the provocation in any other way.

“Well, it’s not just a problem of rank, it’s more of a problem of carrier choices” he said sadly and was satisfied when for once realization dawned on Jisung, who finally decided to shut up.

Changbin was born in the court. His parents both worked for the king and had met doing so. When they decided to get married and start a family, it was only natural for them to it there. So Changbin has grew up with the rest of the staff’s children and, with time, was pushed to choose his own carrier to specialize in.

It took a while for him: he didn’t feel like settle like the rest of his friends on mediocre jobs. Since a very young age he dreamed of becoming something incredible. It was around that time the Knights of the King returned at the palace.

He remembers the way they barged in, shining with their armors in the light of day. They weren’t human being, but gods on earth through the young eyes of Changbin. In that moment he decided that he was going to stand there as one of them one day.

Of course the road to success wasn’t an easy one. The Knights of the King were very few, selected and hand-picked between the most capable. Changbin obviously knew he couldn’t expect for his dream to come true overnight. So instead he started training.

He started by become a stable boy. The job hadn’t appealed an inch to him previously, but he had come to realize that the better way to start was by learning to ride a horse. He soon found out he loved it. The animals were weirdly drew by him and Changbin enjoyed their company more than that of some people. He soon not only learned to ride them, but was so good he was selected at only fifteen to be the Crown Prince’s teacher.

By the time he had known both him and Jisung for sometimes. When he was only twelve, the two had stumbled upon each other in the stables and, not recognizing the future king, Changbin had naively told him about his dream when he was asked. But contrary to anyone that came before him, the guy didn’t laugh or scoff at his silliness, instead he found his drive and passion fascinating and decided to take him under his wing. Jisung came shortly after.

The three of them had since shared an infinite amount of horse-rides and a fair number of sparing sessions. Changbin knows in his heart he wouldn’t have been able to ever get this close to his goal without Chan’s help. And he truly was close.

It had been more than a year since the last time the Knights came to town. By tradition, it was for each one of them to choose their own successor who would have taken their place once they left or died. Around that time Changbin got to meet Sir Jiwon.

The man, for someone who had studied the Knights’ history as throughly as Changbin, was a legend, definitely one of the most well respected and skilled of his time. What he hadn’t knew about the man, was that he had a very similar history to him. Changbin didn’t know a lot, but the man had once mentioned that he too had started from a low rank family.

For that reason, when he had known about Changbin, he had asked for him to prove himself. Changbin still remembers the sheer panic that ran through his vein as he prepared for the course that had been placed for him. Even so, it must have gone well because he managed to finish it and by the end of it Sir Jiwon was clapping his hands enthusiastically. After a sparring session the two had talked.

It’s clear your passion relies on speed more than form he has told him not that that’s going to be a problem. Contrary to popular belief, the Knights aren’t just about fighting. A lot of it is adventure and exploration, so it’s essential to be well accustomed with your vehicle. Keep working on it and maybe next time will see each other we could come to a more refined agreement.

With that he had left, leaving Changbin with a promise and the temporary titol of squire which basically meant he was going to be his successor. He still couldn’t believe it, even if it was very much true.

But obviously something had to go wrong. As in, of course Changbin started developing feelings for a certain redhead. Now, sure, there were just a couple of problems with that.

Number one was that Felix was definitely Chan’s little brother, which wasn’t going to be a problem if not for the fact that for someone who had basically promised himself to dedicate his life to repay his debt towards the Crown King, this wasn’t a great start. Sure, the older had showed him repeatedly that he encouraged whatever relationship they wanted to have, but Changbin was known to be stubborn for a reason.

Number two there was the royalty factor. Felix wasn’t just anyone, he was Second Prince, the second most probable person to end up on the throne. Of course, Changbin was confident it wouldn’t have come to it: still, as Prince, Felix had an image to uphold. Such image would have definitely been compromised if it came out he was in a relationship with a stable boy of anything! Sure, relationships between people of the same gender were common, Changbin knew, but not so much in the world of aristocracy because of a lack of heirs, which wasn’t a great political move. It wouldn’t surprise Changbin if the King had already promised his son in marriage.

Last but not least, another thing plagued Changbin’s mind: where his future would lead him. It wasn’t forbidden for Knights to be in relationships, but only very few of them even tried to do as much, the problem being that Knights were travelers, they mostly didn’t stay in the same place for longer than a few weeks, before departing again for new adventures. It was an exciting life, one that Changbin dreamed of, but it scared him nonetheless to think, even if he ever had the luck to eventually start a relationship with the younger, it was going to be cut out soon or later.

It scared him more when he stopped to think about such feelings of him. Felix had entered his life like a ray of sunshine, had snaked his way into his heart through soft giggles and radiant smiles. Not to mention his fucking voice, one that had surprised Changbin at first, but also made him shudder every time he heard it. And those full lips-

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Changbin jumped, awakened from his thought process only to remember where he was and what was happening.

“You wanna know how I could tell?” Jisung continued undaunted, “You have the same look in your eyes as the one you have when you look at him thinking that no one can see you” he finished with a smirk. Changbin frowned at him.

“Sir Jisung, I don’t think you should intervene in matters that don’t concern you”.

“Ugh, cut the bullshit, Changbin, stop being such a killjoy and make a move already! I honestly don’t get it...” Changbin was surprised to see his friend getting so worked up. Jisung was one to take nothing seriously.

“You know why, you jerk!” honorifics be damned: this new Jisung was getting on his nerves, even more so when he tsked at him.

“Why? Because someday in a very uncertain future you’ll be requested to stay away for sometime? Stop worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet!” Jisung was now basically screaming so Changbin was glad they were still deep into the woods.

“I don’t get you, man! You’re trying to prevent something that could make you so unbelievably happy right now because you’re scared that maybe one day it will be taken away from you? Be a man for once and fight for what you want!” Changbin was starting to believe that there was some other reason why Jisung was now exploding at him, but he didn’t get to ask, because the guy was talking again.

“And you know what’s worse? You’re not only doing this to yourself! Poor Felix has been agonizing over you for days now, you know? So let me tell you,” he swore he had never seen Jisung look at him so fiercely, not even during sparing practice, “if you want to wallow in self pity, fine, you do you. But I won’t forgive you if you hurt Felix again because you can’t be honest with yourself” and, just like that, his horse was galloping away, returning to the stables.

Changbin remained frozen for sometimes. It was embarrassing how he had just realized he hadn’t even took into consideration how Felix might have felt about the whole situation. You’re a mess Changbin. That’s why you don’t deserve him.

He sighed, then urged his own horse in the same direction Jisung had.

——————-

Jisung woke up with a migraine today too. It probably was due to the lack of sleep, but for some reason he couldn’t help but trace its cause to a certain feline smile and a pair of mischievous eyes. Jisung ran a hand through his hair while making his way to the dining hall to have breakfast.

It had been three days now since the feast and Jisung hadn’t managed to stop thinking about his little guest for more than ten minutes. He relived the encounter endless times in his head, frustration boiling up in him only to resolve in despair. He truly couldn’t believe he had managed to lose his mother’s necklace. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to cry.

Jisung had been desperate when he had completely lost Minho that night, knowing well he would have never managed to find him again. Even so, he had decided not to tell anyone about the encounter, which favored his pent-up frustration.

On one hand, he didn’t find any use in telling his friends. Not only they would be practically useless, if he knew them well (and he did) they were probably going to laugh at him. The thing was, it was such a ridiculous situation that he even was questioning his own sanity. It had been true that the “thief” hadn’t stole from anybody else, if so they would have found out by now. So it would seem crazy that this guy had only taken something so specific from him and Jisung had let him get away.

The story was going to be even more unbelievable since Jisung wasn’t going to bring up the necklace and its meaning to them anytime soon. So it would have been absurd to try to explain the reason why he was so mad about something he had no proof had happened and that, from what he would let them know, had had no repercussions.

So instead he decided to stay silent. Not that he would have been able to speak up anyway. In fact, it seemed that he hadn’t been the only one affected by the night in question. On the contrary, everyone was acting very weirdly since then.

Firstly, there was the whole business with Felix and Changbin. Jisung didn’t exactly know what had been said or done, all he knew was that the readhead hadn’t given them a sincere smile from said night, and that didn’t sit well with him (admittedly he had been a little harsh on Changbin yesterday, but he couldn’t bring himself to think it had hurt with the situation).

Secondly, Seungmin was being extra sketchy in the last few days. He was barely talking to anyone and instead appeared always pensive. God, he had only called him squirrel twice since that night!

On the other hand, and this one Jisung considered the most tragic, Chan had been very talkative the last few days. Mostly about a specific subject.

“Hey Jisung! Finally you showed up!” Chan piped up from his spot at the table. Jisung was surprised to find all three brothers at breakfast at the same time. It was a rare sight.

“Yeah sorry, had trouble sleeping” Jisung answered submissively. He honestly didn’t have the force to talk and looking around the table he noticed that was the general sentiment for everyone. Seungmin was picking at his food and Felix had stared unblinkingly at the fruit basket since Jisung had come in. Chan, though, didn’t seem to take the hint.

“Oh, me too man! I must have passed out after a while though because Joomi almost threw me out of the bed this morning” he said with an unwavering smile and chirpy voice. Jisung didn’t know how the guy wasn’t dead on his feet and shook his head.

“Yeah, well, I assume it wasn’t for the same reason. I’m not obsessing over someone I barely know the name of” he rolled his eyes at his friend.

“Shut up, Jisung, you don’t get to say a word since you weren’t even there when Woojin performed. God, you should have heard him-” thankfully his rambling was cut off by a suddenly alerted Seungmin.

“Wait, what did you say his name was?” he asked, an unreadable look plastered on his face. Chan sighed.

“God, don’t start you too, Seungmin! As I said, you weren’t there so you don’t get a say in the matter. Felix heard him and feels the same, right brother?” Felix didn’t move from his previous position, “See! He agrees with me! And don’t think I’ve forgiven you for not showing up at the feast. I’ve been busy lately but, mark my word, I’ll-” again he didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence.

“You said his name was Woojin, right?” Seungmin asked annoyed, as if Chan was talking nonsense while he was trying to unravel a complicated puzzle.

Chan rolled his eyes, annoyed at his little brother, “Yes, that’s what I said. Why does it matter?”.

“I might know him” For the first time, silent felt on the four of them and everyone’s attention shifted to the youngest, even Felix’s.

“You what now?!” Chan asked in disbelief.

“I think I know him. I mean, a friend of mine introduced us and we barely spoke, but I know he was supposed to perform at the feast. Also, I might have met another of his friends. And his mother. And I know where he lives” With every bomb Seungmin dropped, Jisung felt his body shudder. What the actual fu-

“You know we’re he is!” This time Chan actually jumped out of his seat, excitement painted on his face. Oh no was all Jisung could think.

“Yeah, his mother was very hospitable, actually. Said I could drop by whenever” Seungmin continued to recount nonchalantly. All Jisung could think was how and when all of this supposedly happen, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“Great! Let’s go then!” Chan started, way too enthusiastic for Jisung’s taste. Thankfully he wasn’t the only one making sense at the table right now.

“Brother, are you insane?!” Felix stopped the older with a hand on his arm, “How do you plan on doing so? Just barge in the house of this poor kid with the guards in tow and demand to talk to him? Won’t it be a little too strong of an approach?” he tried to reason and, to Jisung’s relief Chan did seem to backtrack a little from his previous statement.

“Well, you could do that, or I could bring you there” Seungmin’s smile was way too mischievous for his taste and hope returned to Chan’s eyes, which in this particular occasion wasn’t a good sign.

“And how do you plan to do that, exactly?” Felix asked suspiciously.

Seungmin shrugged. “I have my methods, don’t worry about it. You just need to be ready with a black hood on tonight here. I will take care of the rest”.

Felix shook his head, eyes petrified. “You guys are crazy, you can’t do that! Jisung, you’re with me on this, am I right?” he said throwing him a pleading look.

Jisung knew better than to do this, to trust Seungmin with something so risky, knew better than to throw Chan mindlessly in such danger. But at the moment he wasn’t thinking about any of that. Instead the same words swarmed into his head repeatedly.

Play along, or I swear to god, you’ll never have it back Minho had whispered in his ear as a shocked Woojin was staring at them. So Jisung had done exactly that, blinded by the fear of losing his mother’s token, only for him to be tricked and losing it anyway.

But that wasn’t the point now. He remembers Minho’s hands trembling, a shadow of the confident thief that had managed to get away with the only thing Jisung had ever considered precious in his life. He was so terrified at the idea of the other knowing what he had been up too. Which could only mean the two were some level of close. There was no way he was going to throw away this opportunity.

“I’m in!” Jisung said resolutely. Seungmin and Chan whooped at the same time Felix threw him an appalled What?!

Jisung had a feeling he was going to regret this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes. I have to say, I love the Jeongin part, but I’m super insecure about the Changbin one.  
> Anyways, I’ve decided to give up on chapter names. I didn’t have ideas for any of them and the one I put sucks, so anyways.  
> By the way I’m halfway through Stranger Things 3 (please no spoiler till chapter 4). Am I the only one who’s convinced it’s going to come out Will is gay?  
> EDIT: Ok I just finished ST3 and OH BOI was it a ride! Also, Robin I did not expect that but thank you so much


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungmin keeps his promise and then gets bullied by everyone, go figure. Hyunjin is confusion. Chan is starstruck. Felix and Jeongin are done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Yeah. I’m back.  
> I’m sorry to everyone who has been waiting and to be honest I’d be surprised if anyone was still going to read. If anyone is reading this I’m sorry but also thank you.  
> Let’s just say I’m terrible at managing time. Or responsibilities. Also didn’t have inspiration.  
> But the cool thing is that once I actually got to finish the chapter I was super satisfied with my work. Having said so the proof read was done at like 12 pm so don’t expect much. I really hope that anyone out there who reads this is satisfied. See you next time! <3

“I swear to god, Felix, at the next jook you’re getting floored” Jisung hissed for the umpteenth time in the short amount of time they had been in the dark tunnel. Here they were, four idiots in the middle of the night cooped up in a space so small and dark Felix was beginning (admittedly a little on the late side) to question this decisions.

As instructed by the youngest, the four of them had met an hour before in the dining room, all wearing black hoods (that by the way had to look fucking suspicious, no group of people actively tries to cover their faces and isn’t) and had made their way to the dungeons, where Seungmin led them into a trapdoor in the floor. Felix felt actually concerned as to how that was a thing and why nobody in the castle seemed to know about it.

“Sorry, it’s not my fault Seungmin didn’t let us take torches down here!”

“Shut up you two, we’re almost there!” Seungmin said back annoyed. Felix almost sighed out of relief at the words. He really didn’t like small and dark places.

In no more than five minutes, after a strenuous flight of stairs, Felix was finally able to see the sky again and, oh boy, wasn’t it a lovely sight. The four boys stumbled out of the trapdoor piling on one another in a bundle of limbs and groans.

“Dammit Felix, could you be any more graceless?” Seungmin pointed out while getting up and starting to make way for the other boys.

“Sorry, I was getting claustrophobic in there!” Felix weakly excused himself, getting up himself and following the others through the night.

“Remind me again why you’re here” Seungmin continued, but his gaze was fixed ahead of him, brows furrowed like he was trying to remember something. Felix admired how well he seemed to move through the streets while avoiding prying eyes. He couldn’t help but wonder just how many times had his younger brother walked this same paths.

“Because this is insane and someone has to make sure you won’t all end up getting yourself in trouble” Felix scoffed not unlike a scolding mother.

Seungmin rolled his eyes while docking into another alley as he heard voices. “Isn’t Jisung already here for this?” he inquired.

Felix shook his head, “The fact alone that he agreed to this makes him just as much of a hazard as any of you” he said matter-of-factly. He didn’t even took notice of the slightly affronted hey! the other directed him.

“Well, what were you planning to do anyway? It’s not like you’d be able to fist-fight thugs into letting us be” Seungmin giggled. Felix didn’t like the disrespect.

“I may be not good at fighting but I swear I can kick you in the shin hard enough to make you cry, Minnie” Chan giggled and Seungmin didn’t answer, so Felix considered it a win.

Suddenly, in the relative silence of the night, they started to pick up a faint sound of loud voices. Seungmin picked up the pace with everybody doing the same and gradually the mess of cheers became more and more prominent. Felix was starting to feel very uncomfortable. Not only they were sneaking out into the night unsupervised, but infiltrating somewhere solely basing on the words of his reckless younger brother. Felix couldn’t fathom just how many things could go wrong.

When they were just around the corner from the entrance of the inn, Seungmin suddenly turned to the three of them, spooking all of them out. “Ok so, just to set up some rules,” he started counting on his fingers, “don’t go anywhere alone and stick to me, don’t talk to anyone, no matter how friendly they seem, and most importantly,” he looked them in the eyes one by one, “don’t take your hood off. If you’re recognized, we’re in major trouble, you hear me?” when the others all nodded enthusiastically, Seungmin finally turned.

“Ok then, let’s do this, I guess” he said before stepping around the corner. Felix didn’t feel reassured in the slightest.

——————————-

“Hey kiddo! Another round of pints for the table! Quick!” Hyunjin sighed at the rudeness he had been regarded with. Tonight the place was filled to the brim, not that it surprised the boy. The crowd cheered loudly as Woojin announced the next piece and started singing.

Tonight Woojin’s voice seemed to be especially filled with emotion and the clients expressed their enthusiasm by throwing money at him like there was no tomorrow. Obviously, Hyunjin wasn’t as happy to be on the receiving hand of the rude comments of the drunk men, but he had no choice but to fill in when Minho basically went MIA a couple of hours before.

From what he had got, his two oldest friends had a bit of a hiccup in their relationship. Apparently, Woojin had seen Minho at the party and the latter had had to come out with a trash excuse and now was avoiding the oldest like the plague, scared of the inevitable confrontation that had to happen. So Hyunjin was now stuck here.

He didn’t have time to sigh at his misfortune because someone bumped into him. He turned, ready to scream at someone, but he froze when his eyes met with the last person he had imagined to see.

“Seungmin!” he basically screamed, only to be shushed by the latter, like the boy had a secret to keep.

“Hyunjin, what are you doing here?” Seungmin stage-whispered and Hyunjin remembered that he was still in the tavern and that the lights were out and Woojin was singing a mellow tune.

“What do you think I’m doing, idiot?” Hyunjin motioned to the empty tray in his hands, too mad at the other to be able to say anything else. How was that this kid had the courage to get up and away without a word and then drop back into his life and be surprised at him?

Seungmin seemed to study his look for a moment before asking, “You work here?”

Hyunjin didn’t know why the conversation had suddenly moved to himself and not to the blaring problem that was in front of his eyes. Even so, as he looked at the other’s eyes, wide and inquiring, he found they he really couldn’t be mad at Seungmin. He smiled a little.

“Not really, I just help around sometimes. Mostly I work for my mother” he said while scratching the back of his neck. When he noticed how they were still standing in the middle of the place he took the other by the arm.

“Anyways, come, let’s have a sit so we can chat without disturbing” he said while starting to making way. He had barely moved a few steps when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Carefully he turned to Seungmin as to not be obvious.

“Seungmin, are does three people following you?” he said nodding a little at the three hooded figures hovering not too far from them. Hyunjin hadn’t noticed them before, but then he had seen two of them shaking the third one while pointing in their direction. They weren’t exactly the definition of subtle.

Seungmin’s eyes widened at the sight, like he had forgot for a second about the existence of the lot, then he took his shoulders. The panic in his eyes was evident. “Oh god, yeah, Hyunjin! I know this will sound crazy but I need your help!” he plead and Hyunjin was surprised to see such emotion in the words.

It wasn’t like he had seen this situation before, hell, he himself had been the target. He knew how this particular type of scum worked: they moved in groups and targeted people who they knew they would have been able to take down. Hyunjin didn’t considered himself a hero, but he’d be damned before he let any of his friends be hurt under his watch.

He didn’t need to hear anything more. He shoved the other’s hands off while glowering at the hooded figures. “Stay here” he said and started approaching the three of them with wide strides. He didn’t react when he heard Seungmin shout a wait! behind him.

“Hey you!” was all the preparation he gave the man before taking him by his collar. Everything else almost happened in slow motion.

Hyunjin had been ready to blindly punch the guy, but his action had made the hood fall off the other’s face. The first thing he found strange was how pale the guy looked, too pale to be any commoner. After recoiling at that he finally took in the other’s look.

His eyes met with small ones. They were strangely familiar, but Hyunjin would have never even dreamed of ever see those eyes from so close.

“Hey, dude!” Chan, as in the Crown Prince, acknowledged him and Hyunjin felt his knees almost give out. He was in deep shit.

—————————-

Chan felt kind of dizzy with the way he was being pushed around. Part of him wanted to laugh at the situation, how Hyunjin had looked at him with a look of pure horror and how Seungmin had pushed his way to him lowering his hood back on his face and muttering muffled swears. On the other hand he wasn’t a complete idiot and saw how this situation wasn’t ideal.

Even so, he couldn’t help it when upon entering the tavern he had heard his voice again. That beautiful voice that made his heart flatter and made him do dumb things. So he had immediately stopped in pure adoration at the boy illuminated by the dim light. He was just as he had remembered. Strong jaw, tan skin and wide shoulders.  
It made him remember why Chan was here at all.

Now, anybody who knew Chan even a little was aware of the fact that the guy wasn’t prone to dumb decisions. On the contrary, around his group of friends he was regarded as the parent-friend, partly because he was the oldest and partly because he was the one who took care of the others the most. That feature and given the fact he had been raised to be a future king you would think that Chan wouldn’t been so reckless as to sneak out of the castle unknown to anyone only to find a boy he had only met once.

Having said that, Chan couldn’t bring himself to regret any of this, not even when he had almost got punched. Chan wasn’t someone who ever complained. He had been educated to saw after the bigger picture instead of petty little wants. So he had been willing to sacrifice a lot in order to get a better future for himself, his loved ones and his kingdom. But this time it was different.

Chan isn’t unreasonable. That’s not something anyone would ever say of him. But sometimes he gets feeling about things. Like when he saw Seungmin talk to poor little Felix in his lonely room all those years ago and knew the boy was one of the sweetest soul to ever be. Like when he met a young stable boy named Changbin and recognized him as someone who should be taken seriously. And when Felix looked at Changbin like the other hung the stars in the sky he understood that such feeling wasn’t fleeting and wasn’t a waste. 

Even without the shadow of a proof he persevered through that feeling and ‘till now it had always resulted in good things. Chan knew he was good with people, more than that he knew he understood them well. And in all those years of knowing and understanding he came to notice that people were prone to surprise you in the most delightful ways if you would just let them. 

Chan had fully meant every word he had told Changbin before the party: there was nothing more magical than people, especially happy and lively people. So when he had heard Woojin’s voice for the first time, something inside of him told him that it was worth pursuing and Chan wasn’t prone to madness, but he was prone to listen to his instincts.

And as he got to hear that voice again Chan couldn’t bring himself to regret one choice about tonight.

Thanks to his inner monologue, Chan barely realized that suddenly he was being dragged away from the scene in a mess of frantic limbs pushing him around and angry whispers. Thankfully no one else had seemed to even mind what was happening and so Chan could consider himself to be in the clear now even if by sheer luck. Even so, everyone was also going out of their way to cover him from all angles which endeared him greatly for some reason.

Soon enough they reached a door and as they stepped into the much more lit room finally his arm was free from Seungmin’s grasp. The boy walked to the front of the bunch and took off his hood while looking at the guy who had almost punched him.

“I can’t believe you, Hyunjin! What the fuck were you thinking!?” he asked frantically.

The new guy - Hyunjin apparently - opened his arms in a panicked way. “Sorry, I thought you were gonna ask for help because some thugs were following you. How was I supposed to now you were going to bring the fucking Prince with you?” he cried.

Before Seungmin had the chance to respond another voice joined the mix. “Seungmin? Is that you?” a young looking kid who had been working at the stove suddenly asked, seemingly shocked at the appearance of his younger brother.

“Jeongin!” Seungmin said, only now noticing the other but didn’t seem to find any more words.

Then Jeongin’s eyes moved to something behind Chan and widened a little. He raised a barely shaking hand to point at whatever made him so shocked. “What are they doing here?” he asked and Chan turned his head to see that both of his companions had lowered their hood too.

It hit him then that at that point there was no point in hiding so he did the same and was almost satisfied when he heard a small gasp. Since nobody was doing anything, Chan decided to take matters into hand but was stopped when the door slammed open.

“Hey, Hyunjin, I finally found Minho, the little rascal was hiding again, so maybe now you can switch-” the petit woman stopped in her track when she finally took in who was in the room. She never got to finish the sentence because suddenly someone else was making their way in.

A familiar looking guy came up from behind her as to assess the situation. “Seyun, is everything fine?” he asked but froze too when he looked into the room.

Then the unexpected happened. “You!” Chan heard someone behind him almost shout. He turned his head to see Jisung point his hand at the new guy with such a serious face Chan was sure he had never seen on him. He was even more surprised when the other froze as if he had been caught and suddenly turned on his heels and ran out. Without missing a bit Jisung followed the motion while shouting an upset hey! behind him.

It only then clicked for Chan that the guy was the one who had interrupted him and Woojin the night of the feast. Chan would have liked to make something of the interaction but suddenly the woman was closing the door behind her and looking more panicked by the second.

“What’s going on here?” she managed out with a serious tone that seemed unfamiliar to her tongue.

“Mrs. Kim” Seungmin took a step forward so that she would turn her head towards him.

“Seungmin, what’s the meaning of this? Why is the Crown Prince in my kitchen?” she asked the younger but Chan decided to answer her himself.

“Because I asked to” he stepped in with a calm but firm voice and felt everyone’s attention shift on himself. “I’m sorry, ma’am, to disturb you but Seungmin said it wouldn’t be a problem” he gestured behind himself but didn’t take his eyes off the woman who seemed to slightly relax at the soothing tone.

“Ok, and why is that?” she asked now with confusion.

Chan suddenly became more sheepish at the request. It was certainly a weird situation to explain and now that he thought about it could appear very equivocal to the eyes of an outsider.

“Well, you see Mrs. Kim, for how strange this might seem to you, I am here because I need to talk to someone” he said and the woman grew even more confused.

“Talk to who?” she asked but before Chan could answer and make an even bigger fool of himself the door to the small kitchen opened once again to reveal the very reason this whole thing was a situation at all.

Woojin entered the room in all his sweaty glory (and oh, wow, was that really a thought Chan had?) not even looking around at all of the different degrees of shocked people around the room.

“Oh goodness, such a tough crowd tonight” he started as he rested his back on the closed door behind him “I swear they wouldn’t stop asking for encores. Had to make a shit excuse to get out of there” he said but opened his eyes when felt no one answering.

“Woojin” Chan couldn’t help but breath out then, making said guy scramble to his feet. When he locked eyes with Chan he bowed deeply.

“My Prince, I’m sorry I didn’t know you were here. I’m mortified for my way of speaking and I must look like a mess-” he started rumbling but stopped when Chan raised a hand and moved a step towards him.

“Woojin, there’s absolutely no reason for you to apologize. I was the one to come here uninvited” he said to make the boy calm down and look at him.

He seemed to succeed in his attempt but Woojin was still red as a tomato when he looked at him and asked “And why is that, My Prince?”

Chan for some reason felt his heart jump in his chest at the simple question but didn’t back down, instead feeling renewed by the action. He walked most of the length dividing him from the other and when he was in front of Woojin he took his hand.

“I know this sounds crazy but I needed to talk to you again, I couldn’t let things stay as they were after we met. Please, would you do me the honor?” he said with a plea in his voice. 

Woojin seemed to become even more embarrassed and Chan for a second feared he might refuse him but was shocked when, after a glance behind him he just said “Then we might need a more private place for it, My Prince”.

Chan couldn’t help the slight smile at that. “Then lead the way”.

————————-

Nobody even moved before the two were out of the door. Of course the one who had to break the silence was none other then mister-loud himself.

“Seungmin, what the fuck was that?” Hyunjin exclaimed while doing some weird motion towards the door with his hands. Seungmin looked just as annoyed as Jeongin felt which would have been more enjoyable if he wasn’t still mad at the boy.

Before anyone else could intervene Mrs. Kim spoke up with the sweetest voice, “Sorry boys, but this place is beginning to get crowded. Could you move the conversation to the main room? As for Jeongin and Hyunjin, I feel like the most of the work is done for tonight, so you can both go and enjoy yourself. I feel like you’ll have a lot to talk about” she finished suggestively. Seeing no one react, Jeongin spoke up first.

“Come on everybody let’s get a table so we don’t disturb the lady anymore” he said looking at both Hyunjin and the other guy who had hardly spoken who he recognized to be none other than Second Prince Felix himself. Even if he didn’t cross gazes with Seungmin he could feel his eyes on him. Good, at least he could assume he hadn’t forgotten.

He guided them outside the kitchen into the inn, where they found a free table to sit at. Now it was Jeongin’s turn to glare at the other pinning him with his surly gaze. When Hyunjin got up to get them drinks everyone was yet to speak up on the tangible tension.

“Well, this feels awkward” the Prince finally said, hood up not to not get recognized. The words seemed to unfreeze Seungmin.

“Jeongin~” he started in a pleading tone but was cut off but Hyunjin coming back with not only drinks but dinner for everyone, that Jeongin imagined was Mrs. Kim doing. They let him sit down in that same tense silence until he decided to break it himself.

“Okay, before we address anything else, what the hell is going on between you two?” he exclaimed before throwing himself at the bowl of stew, with the Prince following suit.

Seungmin spoke up again, this time a little more surely. “Jeongin, listen to me-”

“That’s the point, Seungmin,” Jeongin interrupted, “I don’t know if I want to” he remarked in a sour tone.

The other rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, ok? I just had a sudden change of plans” Jeongin didn’t uppreciate the tone.

“Change of plans? That’s what you call it? You literally stood me up?! Who the hell does that?” he emphasized. Seungmin got another couple of dirty looks thrown his way.

“Hey, you stood him up? That’s not nice, man!” Hyunjin provided.

“You don’t even know the context of it!” Seungmin threw back, but Hyunjin shrugged. “Well, that’s not nice either way” he said with a tone of finality.

“Was it him who you were supposed to meet the night of the ball?” suddenly chimed in Prince Felix (or however he was supposed to address him) from his bowl, “You were so excited when you read the list of the supplementary staff, so we assumed you were expecting someone from them. Why did you ran away at the last moment?” he asked.

At least Seungmin had the decency to look baffled. “I didn’t run away,” he started, “I just didn’t feel like staying” he finished weakly.

Hyunjin’s eyes suddenly went big. “Wait, the night of the celebration at the palace?” Prince Felix nodded frantically, “Was that why you were roaming around the streets like a lost puppy?”

Seungmin became even redder when the Prince fixed him with a look that said ‘just how much more idiot stuff have you done that I don’t know of?’.

Jeongin though wasn’t going to let that go so easily, “Wait, so you crushed face-first into me, hyped me up for the party and then left to hang out with this loser?” he motioned to Hyunjin and didn’t react to the other’s protests.

Seungmin shook his hands vigorously. “No, no, I just went out here to not run into anyone I knew and a guy had rounded up on me and Hyunjin beat him up and brought me hear” he said like it wasn’t one hell of a crazy story.

Jeongin felt bad for the Prince when he saw him cover his face with both his hand like he was going to cry.

Seungmin suddenly seemed to remember something. “Anyway, how’s your wrist?” he asked a still kind of stunned Hyunjin and something clicked in Jeongin.

“Wait, so that’s how you hurt yourself? By saving this idiot?” Jeongin asked almost accusedly at a shocked Hyunjin and this time threw a dirty look at Seungmin when he heard a beginning of a protest.

“And don’t think you’re in the clear! I still have no idea why you left me like that” Jeongin continued his rant.

Again, Seungmin rolled his eyes, “Like you would even notice. You basically threw yourself at Woojin when we met him, you didn’t even look at me” he said sulkily.

Jeongin could hardly believe his ears. “Are you telling me you moron couldn’t stand to have my attention taken away from you one moment?” he said in disbelief.

Whatever shitty excuse Seungmin was going to come up with it didn’t reach them because suddenly Prince Felix was talking again, “Oh, you don’t even know. For his last birthday he woke me up at midnight and demanded that I tell him what day it was. Of course sleepy me told him to piss off before I could even realize what was happening. Let’s just say he didn’t talk to me for the next couple of days.”

Jeongin felt the situation was so weird he didn’t know if he was supposed to laugh but when he heard Hyunjin’s hysterical giggles he couldn’t contain himself. Even less when the Prince smiled at the reaction while Seungmin pouted at the embarrassing story.

Prince Felix put a hand on the other’s head. “That’s just how he is, are baby brother” he cooed, and Jeongin was so amused by how he was now pinching Seungmin’s chicks that he didn’t even realize the implications of that. Apparently, though, someone else did.

“So wait,” suddenly Hyunjin intervened, “if you’re brothers, Seungmin, are you...” he didn’t finish the phrase but immediately everyone knew what he was about to say.

Seungmin whipped his head so fast Jeongin was going to fear for his neck. “Wait, no, we aren’t brothers-” he was interrupted by a shocked Prince slapping him on the arm, “I mean, yeah-” he tried again.

“Are you or are you not?” Jeongin intervened confused and kind of irritated. Seungmin sighed as if to sort out his thoughts.

“We’re step-brothers” he finally spoke, “I’m the King’s son but not the Queen’s, which means I’m illegitimate and therefore have no right to the throne” he said and his tone felt oddly deflated. “So no, I’m not a prince if that was your question” he finished.

Seeing both the Prince and Seungmin suddenly silent gave Jeongin a sense of solemnity he thought better than to break.

Of course, not everyone could be as sharp as him.

“Whaaaaaaat?!” Hyunjin shouted in an exaggerated manner and Jeongin scrunched his nose out of distaste at how the other was now invading Seungmin’s private space from across the table.

“You’re the King’s son? The Princes’ brother?” Jeongin would have been worried about how loud he talked if not for the already enormous amount of noise in the tavern.

Seungmin looked confused and mildly displeased by the display of interest. “Didn’t you just hear what I said? It’s not that big of a deal, I’m not that important” he said as if he was trying to convince the other of that. Of course it didn’t work.

“Not important? Is that what you call that there? You’re basically one half of a whole prince!” he said like it was a rational statement.

Seungmin almost looked affronted. “That is not how this works!” he reprimanded.

They continued to banter on the subject, but Jeongin’s attention was soon diverted to a subtle chuckle just across from him. Prince Felix was watching with warm eyes the whole interaction before deciding to address Jeongin.

“He’s always been like that, always ready to put himself a step down from everybody. Truth be told, I’ve never felt like that in his regards. He’s as much of a brother to me as Chan is” he concluded and Jeongin smiled, reminded of the relationship he himself had with his siblings. Even so, he was suddenly reminded with the problem at hand.

“By the way, what’s the deal with him and Woojin?” he asked the Prince, but the other two quieted down as well.

The other sighed. “Well, what happened is that Chan heard your hummingbird here sing at the celebration, talked to him a whole three seconds and hasn’t shut up about it ever since” he answered with a borderline annoyed tone.

It was Seungmin to supply, “So, because I was here the other night I recognized the name and led him here to meet him” he said and Jeongin’s eyebrows shot up.

“So wait, let me get this straight: you snuck out two of the most important people in the kingdom without any sort of protection for a talk?” he asked in disbelief.

The Prince scoffed at his words mouthing a ‘tell me about it’ that throughly amused Jeongin, but they were interrupted by Hyunjin jabbing him in the ribs.

“It’s not a just a talk, Woojin is obviously getting courted!” he exclaimed and was answered with a spurt of water, a loud ‘what!?” and straight up laughter.

“Are you crazy, Hyunjin? It’s the future King we’re talking about!” Jeongin said while wiping a tear away.

The other looked affronted but continued undaunted. “Of course that’s the case! You said it yourself that he wouldn’t shut up about him and went all this trouble just to ‘talk’! Or are you implying Woojin isn’t worthy of such?” Jeongin was shocked by the attack.

“Hey! Don’t try to put stuff I never said in my mouth!” he answered back. He knew for a fact Woojin was a great candidate and deserved love more than anyone. Even so, this scenery felt unreal.

Seungmin just shrugged. “I honestly don’t know, I mean I thought it could be just another case were he was going to try and adopt him in his friends and family circle, but I have to admit it did feel a little different this time” he pondered.

Hyunjin looked for a second awkwardly between the two of them. “Ehm, and the thing wouldn’t...bother...you?” he asked and the underlining sense was clear to anyone.

This time it was the Prince’s turn to laugh. “No, definitely not” he answered and Jeongin could swear there was a tad of sadness in his eyes.

“What about the other guy?” Seungmin changed subject way too quickly for it to be natural, “The one who was chased by Jisung?”

Jeongin thought for a second, “Is Jisung the squirrel-looking guy?” he asked and felt relieved when the Prince snorted. Seungmin remained unbothered.

“Yeah, he’s with us, but I never saw the other guy around. Even so they seemed to know each other pretty well” he said pensively.

Jeongin and Hyunjin shared a knowing look, then Hyunjin spoke up. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be too worried about it,” he proclaimed, “it wouldn’t be the first time some unknown guy comes in screaming at Minho” he supplied.

The Prince’s eyebrows shoot up. “And how is that?” he asked curiously.

Jeongin snickered. “Let’s say he’s very...‘friendly’” he said doing air-quotes, “Maybe I wasn’t the only one who was stood up” this time Hyunjin snickered.

“But how would that be? Jisung hardly leaves the castle himself” Seungmin said with new interest.

“Well, if there really is a way to sneak in, I wouldn’t be surprised if Minho found it” Hyunjin answered, but both of the other two didn’t look truly convinced.

Finally, Seungmin gave in and sighed deeply, before speaking up again. “How is it that no matter what I do I end up between a love quarrel?” he announced like it was a legitimate question.

Even through Hyunjin’s and Jeongin’s confusion, Prince Felix’s laughter resounded with the rest of the noise that filled the inn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the other news is that I now have a skz side blog! Yeah!  
> It’s 9-or-0 on tumblr so if you have any complaints or really anything you can shout at me in private!!!  
> Thank you to anyone who leaves comments <3333


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